Welcome to Hogwarts!
by sexyface
Summary: Poor, poor Skylar has been through an awful lot. Her school has been blown up, she is going to be separated from her best friend, and is now being forced to go to Hogwarts. But it's not so bad when she meets a certain famous wizard:D Plotless fluff. RHr H
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from Harry Potter doesn't belong to me. Duh. It belongs to JK Rowling. This goes for all future chapters as well.

Introduction 

It was very early one morning, in San Diego, California. Skylar Matthews woke at the sound of an owl pecking at the window. 

"Mmmmm." She groaned sleepily. She pulled herself out of bed and walked over to the window. She didn't know this owl so she guessed it was a school owl giving her the list of supplies she would need for the coming school year. She ripped the envelope open and pulled out the piece of parchment. It read:

**__**

Dear Miss Matthews,

We regret to inform you that our beloved school, Arrowhead Academy of Magic, has been closed.

You will be reassigned to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

*Is this some kind of joke?* She thought.

**__**

You should be getting your list of supplies any day now. 

Best wishes to you at your new school.

Shauna Flammer 

Headmistress of Arrowhead Academy of Magic.

She stared down at the paper blankly.

__

*Hogwarts? Isn't that in England?*

Just then two more owls came flying into the room.

One she recognized as her best friend, Sara's. The other one she didn't know. She thought she'd opened the letter from her friend first.

She looked down at the red envelope. It was a howler. She laughed a little. Howlers were Sara's favorite way of communication. She opened it.

"_YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK, YOU SUCK, YOU SUCK!_

THE SCHOOL IS CLOSED AND I AM FULLY PREPARED TO BLAME YOU!

WE MIGHT BE SEPERATED NOW! WHAT SCHOOL ARE YOU GOING TO?

DURMSTRANG FOR ME!"

Skylars heart sank. She and her best friend in the whole world were going to different schools.

She sat down on her bed, and grabbed some parchment and a quill.

"Hogwarts," was all she wrote. 


	2. Chapter One

  
  
  
A/N: Some of you people have already read some of this story. That's because I had to delete it. I'm always one chapter ahead of myself so I put up the wrong one. But to those of you who haven't read it, please R&R! 

Chapter One

Skylar POV.

It was September first. My bags were packed, and I was ready to go. Sara was there, too. Her train left two hours after mine. 

This was it. I had to go.

I was crying. I was the only one to go to Hogwarts besides Henry Porter. I hated Henry. He was a jerk and always made fun of the people who were younger or smaller than him. And he has had a crush on me since the first day we went to Arrowhead. I can take care of myself so it wasn't that big of a deal. I just wished I had a friend.

"Do you promise not to forget me?" Sara said.

"I couldn't even if I tried. You're my best friend." 

"I bought this for you." She handed me a tiny package.

I laughed.

"I bought you something too." I said.

I pulled a box with the same wrapping paper out of my bag. She smiled and let out a little chuckle.

"Should we open them at the same time?" She asked.

"Yeah. One…."

"Two…"

"Three…" 

We opened our presents, and laughed. We had both gotten a friendship necklace for each other. 

They were almost exactly the same only one was gold and the other silver.

"Thanks Sara."

She hugged me and said, "Don't forget to write me every single day."

"I won't. Bye."

I put my necklaces on, then grabbed some floo powder.

"Kings Cross Train Station, London." 

When I got out of the fireplace I lost my balance and fell on someone causing her to fall over too. 

"I am so sorry." I said as I helped her up. I looked at her with surprise for a second. She had the reddest hair I had ever seen. I had red hair. But it was dark and nothing compared to hers. 

"No big deal." She replied with a smile.

"Good. I'm just late for my train. I should still watch where I'm going." I said apologetically.

"It's really alright." She said. She looked in the distance. It looked like she had gotten separated from her family and was looking for them. "I have to go. I'm late for my train too." And she walked off.

"Sorry." I called again.

She waved a forgiving hand as she disappeared into the crowd.

"Okay where to next?" I mumbled. I looked down at my ticket. "Platform nine and three quarters? Does that even exist?" I was mumbling to myself for a long time as I walked. 

I just couldn't figure it out. I was in between platforms nine and ten. 

*_It should be right here._* I thought. I was staring blankly at the wall when six people came up behind me.

I recognized one of them as the girl I had knocked over earlier. I really wanted to ask if they went to Hogwarts. But in case they didn't, I didn't want to risk it. Luckily they asked me.

"Um, do you go to Hogwarts?" a boy said to me. His hair was just as red as the girl's.

There were four of these red heads two were the parents. There were also two others. A girl with bushy brown hair and a boy with messy black hair.

"Yes. Yes I do." I said smiling at them. Then I realized who the black haired kid was. Why didn't I see it before? 

"Holy crap! You're Harry Potter! He's Harry Potter! Did you know that? Cause he is! Harry Potter I mean. Wow. Pleasure to meet you. I'm Skylar Matthews." I said moving over to shake his hand.

"Hi." He said. I could see his friends holding back laughter. "I don't remember seeing you at school before." 

"Well that's because I've never been to this school before. I'm a transfer student from Arrowhead. It closed during the summer."

"Oh, that's to bad." 

"Yeah. My best friend went to Durmstrang. It's really sad. But we got each other best friend necklaces and they're like a lot alike. Only one is silver and one is gold. I got the gold one for her. I don't know why but I simply like gold better. It's brighter and a prettier than silver and….I'm talking too much, aren't I? Sorry I talk a lot when I get nervous. And I'm really nervous around celebs. Rities." I added after seeing the puzzled look on their faces. "Anyway, I also get like way nervous when I start a new school, you know? I was almost this bad my first day of Arrowhead, and when I went to my first concert. I was in the first row and so I was really nervous about looking stupid in front of the band. It was the best concert ever though, and I had a blast. Have you ever heard of the Plain white T's? They're not that popular, but they should be. They're the best band ever! I love them. Lonely September, Radio's in Heaven, and Shine are my favorite songs but the rest are super cool too. What's your favorite band?"

"Uh," He seemed stunned at how fast I could talk.

"Oh jeez, we're gonna be late if we don't hurry up. Where's the platform?" There was a pause.

"Over here." Said the brown haired girl who seemed to have gotten over my chatterboxyness the fastest. 

"Thanks. So… how do I get in? By the way who are the rest of you people?"

There was another pause, as if they wondered if they should tell me. I think they think I was a lunatic. Which, now that I think of it, I probably am.

"Well? The girl asked for your names." Said the mother of the red heads.

"I'm Ron Weasly, this is my sister Ginny…"

"I knew you two were brother and sister! You look a lot alike."

"Yeah. Well this is Hermione Granger. And they're mum and dad."

"You said 'mum'! Like nobody in the US of A says 'mum'. That is so cute!"

"Good for me." Ron said. "Well we don't have long. We should go now."

"You're right. I'm sorry I took so much of your time. I told you, it's all nerve."

"Don't worry, you're fine. Let's just go." Harry said.

"Okay, you guys go first. I just need to see how it's done. Then you can turn around and never look back. I wouldn't be offended. I probably bug the living crap out of you. I suck at meeting new people. My first impressions are always bad ones. Do British people say words like suck? I bet you don't, huh. I think that's weird, but you probably don't like it either. But look on the bright side! You'll never have to hear it again, cause I'm never gonna talk to you again and stuff. What are we waiting for? Go!"

At that Ron ran towards the wall and vanished. 

"Oh, is that all?"

"Yep. That's all. See you." Harry said and he ran into the wall too.

"Bye!" 

Ginny went next. 

"It um… It was very nice to meet you dear." Mrs. Weasly said as _I_ prepared to disappear into the wall now.

"It was nice to meet you guys too!"

And with that I ran to the platform. 

  



	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

I walked into the last compartment. It was the only one that wasn't full besides about seven that had been taken up by a bunch of jerks who say the train belongs to them. I punched the one who seemed to be the leader. A pale, light blonde haired boy with a pointed face wearing a smirk. 

"What happened?" Harry asked Hermione as they, Ron, Ginny, and another round faced boy walked into my compartment.

"I'm not exactly sure but did you see his face? I think he lost a few teeth!" They all started laughing uncontrollably.

Then the boy who I didn't know noticed me.

"Hey Harry?"

"Yeah Neville?" Harry said trying to catch his breath.

"There's someone else in here." 

"What? Where? Who? Oh. Hello Skylar." He said spotting me.

"Hi. Sorry, I'd leave, but everywhere else is full. So I'll just be quiet. I can tell you don't like me. And I'm not really surprised, why would you like me? I'm an annoying little chatter box."

He just looked at me. He probably didn't know what to say. I wouldn't. Besides now he knew I knew I bothered him. It would be pointless to lie. I hate it when I bother people. Sometimes I hate myself. Why can't I just control what I say? I just go on, and on, and on. If I were in his shoes I would bother me too.

"Sorry I said that. It's just sometimes when I'm really, _really_ lonely I tend to try to get pity friends. Just to keep me company while I wait for real friends to come along who accept my stupidity. There I go again! Just pay no attention to me. Pretend I'm not here and I'll just…. Never mind."

They just stood there. Staring at me. 

"Hey, didn't your parents ever tell you it's rude to stare? Sit! I really don't mind!" 

They still looked a little unsure but in no time they had completely forgot about me.

"All I want to know is who did it." Ron said. "Whoever did should get a metal or something."

"I'm sorry, I just can't hold it back anymore." I said. They turned to look back at me in surprise. "What are you talking about?" 

"Someone punched Draco Malfoy in the mouth!" Harry said.

"Who's Draco Malfoy?"

"He's just a bully."

"_I_ punched a bully in the mouth. He was really bugging me."

"It was you?!" Ron said in total shock.

"Well, is this bully we're talking about incredibly pale, like he's never been out side in his whole life?"

"Yes." Harry said smiling a little.

"With like really, really oily light blonde hair, that looks more like white than blonde?"

"Yes! That's him!" Ron concluded. 

"Yep. That was me."

"Wicked." 

"Well now you know who did it. You can talk about something else. And have fun with that."

"Anyone for exploding snap?" Harry asked.

"Do you have cards?" said Ron.

"Well yeah, but they're in my trunk."

"Good. Where's your trunk?"

"Storage car."

"Well, I guess exploding snap is out. Me and Ginny don't have any either."

"It's Ginny or I, Ron." Hermione corrected.

He scowled at her. 

"I don't have any either." Neville said.

"I knew I should have put mine in my purse." Hermione added.

"Man you guys give up easy. Use mine." I handed Neville my cards. Then I turned and looked out the window.

"Hey, we should ask Skylar to play with us." Neville said.

"Why?" Ron asked bewildered. 

"Because these are her cards. And she punched Malfoy. I think she's worthy to play don't you?" Neville said, a note of sarcasm in his voice.

"Yeah I guess so. Hey Skylar, do you want to play with us?" Ron said dully.

"Umm, sure."

And that was the start of it all I guess. We just didn't know it yet.


	4. Chapter Three

A/N: Hey! Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it! Oh and Please review!

Chapter Three

We got to Hogwarts at around six o'clock. I stepped out of the train. I had no idea where to go. 

I looked around and I saw Henry walking over to me.

"Hey Skylar. Did you miss me?" He said smugly. 

"No I didn't." I replied, smiling at him.

"Yes you did. I remember what you said last year before we left school."

"Oh really? What did I say?"

"You said you'll miss me a lot and then you kissed me."

"That's bull crap. I never said or did anything like that! You just wish I had."

He gave me another smug look and winked at me.

"Look whatever you're thinking, it's not going to happen. I don't like you that way. In fact I don't like you at all. So leave me alone." 

"Yeah right."

"Yeah that's right. I'm glad you agree with me." I smiled at him and walked away.

I still didn't know what to do. I walked over to Hermione who looked like she had some kind of authority. Kind of like class president. We had that at my school. In fact, _I_ was the president.

"Um Hermione?"

She sighed. "Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you but, I don't know where to go, and stuff."

"Oh. Go over to Hagrid."

"Okay. Thanks."

I started to walk away when something crossed my mind.

"Uh, Hermione?"

"Yes Skylar?" she sounded a little annoyed.

"Who's Hagrid?"

"Oh sorry. He's that big guy over there." She said pointing to a very large man.

"Him?" I asked nervously. 

"Yes. I know he looks a little scary but he's not. So don't worry about him."

"Okay if you say so."

I tapped Hagrid on the arm.

"Wha'? oo's there?"  
He looked around at me.

"Can I 'elp you with anything?"

"Yes. I'm one of the students from Arrowhead, do you know where I should go? I don't know why I don't know I really, really should. Do you know if it said in the letter I got? If not I think it should have been. I should read the letters better. I'm such a flake! But I wish I wasn't! I'm going to not be a flake from now on! Do you believe me? I don't really believe me. I'm too much of a flake to not be a flake. Do you know what I'm saying? You're really tall. Did you know that? If not, you are. You're like a giant! Are you a giant? I think that giants are cool. But they seem kind of scary to meet one in person. Oh shoot! Does that offend you? Sorry if it did! I can't help it! I always just say what I'm thinking! I'm talking too much again! Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

There was a pause.

"Well do you know where I should go or not?"

" Oh. Yeah. You n' the other kid. Henry isn't it? Are comin' on the boats with me."

"Okay."

"Just go over there an' I'll be there in a minute."

"Alright. Thanks."

I was still scared of Hagrid. He was too big and mean looking to be nice. But, I didn't really have a choice but to trust that he won't go crazy and kill all of us on the boats. 

Wait a minute. Boats?

I had been scared of going on a boat since I heard about the Titanic when I was three. You'd think I'd be over it by now, being sixteen and all, and I kind of was, until my dad's boat sunk two years ago. He didn't die. He's a really good swimmer, I mean really good, he teaches scuba lessons. But it still scared me back into being afraid of water.

So, I decided I wasn't going to go on a boat. Instead, I followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione to where they were going to get to the school.

I snuck behind them and saw a bunch of horseless carriages.

I saw Ron pat Harry's shoulder lightly a few times, and Hermione give him a nervous look.

Harry obviously knew what was going on.

"I'm fine. Just get in the carriage." He said plainly. 

They let him go in first and exchanged looks that said clearly that they didn't believe him.

I wondered what was going on. But I didn't have long to ponder this. The carriages were pulling out.

"Wait! Stop!" They didn't listen to me. I ran after as fast as I could but they were faster.

I had to run the whole way to the castle. If I didn't I would be lost in a strange place that I had never been before. I suppose I would have found it soon enough, it was a huge castle, how hard could it be to spot? Well the point is that I ran. For a really long time. The whole time I thought, _*Well, at least I'm not on a boat*_

I finally got there. I was out of breath, my hair and makeup had gotten all messed up because of the wind and sweat. I tried to smooth out my hair, but it didn't help much.

I walked up and into the entrance hall and my jaw dropped. 

It was huge. It could have fit Arrowhead there easily. Of course, Arrowhead was one of the smaller schools in the wizarding community.

I felt someone looking at the back of my head. I quickly closed my mouth and turned around. There was a very strict looking woman staring at me.

"Hi…ma'am."

"Skylar Matthews I presume?"

"Yeah, That's me. Skylar Matthews. Matthews Skylar. Any way you spin it I'm her! She's me! What about you? Who are you? Never mind that's not a good question to ask. You know what is a good question to ask? Do you allow dogs? It didn't say so in the letter, but I have a dog and I want to get him over here. If I can't get my dog over here I'll get my cat I guess. He's way cute but I'm more of a dog person. My dogs name is Beau, and my cats name is Tails. They're my favoriteset little aminals! They are like so cute with their little noses and all. My dog is a brown Pomeranian, and my cat well I don't really know what he is but he's half orange and half white. He' the cutest little kittie you'll ever see! He has the cutest pink nose and ears ever! Ooh you've got to see them both! So can Beau come?"

"Would you like to tell me why you did not come on the boats like you were supposed to?"

"Oh, That. Well see the truth is, I'm petrified of boats, and water and stuff. I'm so scared of sinking, and stuff. I don't know how anyone isn't scared of that. I can't believe anyone actually _likes _riding on those things. They're like a killer monster is disguise."

"Is that so?"

"Yep. That's about the size of it."

She gave me one of those if looks could kill I'd be dead before I hit the ground looks. My first thought about this woman was that she was not someone to get on the bad side of.

"Sorry."

"Well, we've already gone through the basics, so just get in line and I'll let you in."

"Okay. That'll be just, just spiffy. Hey have you heard the one about the one-hundred-year-old bread? Oh never mind it's to stale. Ba boom boom ch…! Haaa! That's a good one, huh?"

The woman shot me another dirty look and opened the door.

I immediately stopped talking, held my breath and followed her in.


	5. Chapter Four

A/N: Did you like the last chapter? If so please review! I always love a new review. So R&R!

Chapter Four 

I looked around. I knew this was a really big school, but I had no idea there were this many people.

I felt really insecure. I was taller than everyone else, and I had really messy dark red hair and incredibly blue eyes. Even though Henry was older than me, he was still shorter. He was more short and fat than tall and skinny like me. I felt like everyone was staring at me. Though, everyone else probably felt the same way. For the first time ever I wished I could be eleven again. I might fit in better. I just walked along with the rest of the group, smiling nervously. 

This was nothing like Arrowhead. There, there was just one table. There, you could go sit wherever you wanted as soon as you got in. Even if you were a firstie… Or a transfer.

I missed it there so much. 

I wanted to go back and sit with Sara, Tommy, and Pete. I was closer to Sara, of course. And more than anything I wanted her to be standing next to me. She and I were like two peas in a pod. We had never been separated for more than twelve hours.

Our longest fight was only one hour long. That was when we were seven. I can't even remember what it was about.

Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted as the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, stood up to talk.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! This year we have a special announcement. The Arrowhead academy of Magic was closed this summer and we have the opportunity to take two of their students.

We will be sorting them first. Porter, Henry."

Henry walked up and sat on a little stool.

The strict woman who eventually I learned to be Professor McGonnagal, put a large hat on his head.

He just sat there for a few minutes with the hat on his head. Then very suddenly, the hat yelled, 

"SLYTHERIN!"

I let out a short gasp and jumped a little.

Professor McGonnagal took the hat off of him and pointed at a table where all the people had started cheering.

"Matthews, Skylar." Professor McGonnagal called.

I walked up to the stool and sat down.

She put the hat on my head and it started talking to me.

"Hmmm. Very smart. I see you'd do well in Ravenclaw. But then you're also very brave, apart from that little fear of boats. Let's see, I think you'd do best in…

GRYFFINDOR!"

As the hat was lifted off my head, I looked to see the table that was cheering.

I smiled and ran over to it.

I was so glad not to be in the same... Group, or whatever it was, with Henry.

Unfortunately, there was nowhere to sit, at least not that I could see. Then I heard someone call my name.

"Skylar! Hey Skylar over here!" It was Harry. I could see his friends objecting. 

"What?" I said as I walked over to them.

"You forgot to take your cards back."

"Oh, right." I was a little disappointed. I was sure he was going to ask me to sit with them. I mean there was plenty of room there, but alas, poor me, I wasn't invited.

I took the cards. Then I sat down.

"Everywhere else is full. I'm sitting here." I said plainly.

"Okay, fine. You don't have to get so defensive." Said the person behind me. It looked like she was about to sit there and thought I was talking to her. 

I tried not to laugh. The others who knew what was going on held back their laughter too.

She looked puzzled for a moment but then decided it was nothing.

The sorting continued for about a half-hour then Professor Dumbledore stood up and said smiling, "Dig in."

"But, there's no…. Wow!" I said the food suddenly appeared on my plate.

Ron snorted at me.

"What?" I said.

"Nothing."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"It's just you get so…I don't know, excited, at little things like food."

"Well at Arrowhead they have house elves bring the food up to us." 

Hermione gave me a nasty look. 

"What did I say?"

"Oh, you said you have the house elves bring up food for you." Harry answered.

"So?"

"So Hermione has this whole free the house elves thing going on." Ron said.

"She thinks house elves are mistreated and should be paid for their work and stuff." Harry finished.

"Oh. Well that's stupid."

"No it's not!" She objected.

"Yes it is. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that you have your, beliefs and stuff, it's just I have a house elf."

"You do? Wicked!" Ron exclaimed, using his cute little British slang.

"Yeah. My point is I felt the same way until I asked him. I just said 'Dusty, I order you to tell me the honest truth. Do you want to be set free?' And he said, 'Oh, no ma'am! Dusty loves to work. Dusty would be very sad if yous set Dusty free!' or something like that. I don't really know the exact words. The point is they like work. So stop this little campaign or whatever it is you're doing. It offends them."

She just glared at me for a second and went back to her food. 

It seemed as though I had stumped her. Which, I would learn in the future, is quite an accomplishment. Harry and Ron grinned at each other then at me.

I stared back, confused and annoyed. And they started eating. I shook my head and took a gulp of pumpkin juice.

It was time for bed and I was very tired. All of the people in my house went to the common room and I followed. I was ready to sleep.

I decided I liked it here. 

I would still miss Arrowhead, but out of all the schools I could have gone to, this was the best.

A/N: Please R&R! And thanx to the people who have!


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter five

I woke up late the next morning.

"Oh no!" I said slapping my head when I looked at the clock. 

Breakfast was over according to my schedule, and my first class was starting in ten minutes.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!"

I grabbed my new robes and looked at them in disgust. Arrowhead didn't have uniforms. And I liked it that way.

I had just gotten a new outfit one week before school started. Now I might never get to wear it. 

*_No_* I thought. *_I will wear it_*

I put the shirt over my head. It was a deep red tank top with a black dragon and Chinese writing on it.

The skirt was dark denim and slightly faded, coming just above my knees. I had a tassel belt and high, chunky boots. I put my hair in a clip.

I walked out of the girls dormitory and out the portrait hole. 

My first class was charms.

When I walked into the classroom everyone stopped taking notes and looked at me.

"Now, now class it's rude to…" Professor Flitwick stopped mid sentience and toppled off a big pile of books he was standing on when he looked at me.

"You've got to be a little more careful Professor. You'll hurt yourself." I reached down for his hand to help him up.

He took it and stood up. He smiled weakly. "Miss Matthews, where is your uniform?"

"Oh is that why everyone is staring? Well my uniform is in my closet." 

"Why aren't you wearing it?"

"I don't know. I guess cause I like this better."

"Well, will you please change after class?"

I shrugged one shoulder. "No."

At this people started whispering to each other.

"What was that?"

"I said _no_."

"Why?"

"Because I want to wear this."

"Miss Matthews it is against the dress code to wear…." He seemed to not know how to put it.

"To wear your _own _clothes?" I finished for him.

"Yes actually. That describes it pretty well."

"Fine, fine. If it's against the rules, I guess I'll change."

"Thank you. Now please take a seat."

"Okay whatever."

I went to the last empty seat. It was right in front of Harry and Ron.

I heard them talking to each other. 

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked Ron.

"I don't know. I guess I didn't notice." Ron replied.

"That's weird. Hermione hasn't missed a class since the third year."

Ron shifted in his seat to look at Harry. 

"I still don't really get what happened with that."

"I know what you mean I don't get it either. Time is funny that way."

"Let's ask Skylar if Hermione was sick or something."

"Okay. She'll probably know if she was in her bed this morning. Hey Skylar?"

"Yeah." I said as I turned to look at them. 

"Was Hermione in bed this morning when you woke up?" Ron said. 

"No, I figured she was at breakfast. I got up really late this morning. No one was there."

"Okay. Thanks anyway."

I nodded and turned back to give my attention to the teacher. The stuff here seemed to be harder then the stuff at Arrowhead. I didn't want to fall behind. 

After class I had to run all the way back to the dormitory to change.

When I got to the portrait hole though I realized I had forgotten the password. 

I knew it started with an S but I didn't know what it was. 

"Uh, Sara? Stongon? Strawgoh? Sss…. Oh, yes!" The door had swung open.

I ran up to the dormitory to change, but someone was already there. Crying.

"Hermione?"


	7. Chapter Six

A/N: Hey all! What do you think so far? Let me know! REVIEW!!! 

Chapter six

She looked at me for a second then started to wipe her eyes in order to hide the fact that she had been crying. 

"You don't have to do that Hermione. I saw you."

She smiled weakly at me. 

"So what's up?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

I gave her a very skeptical look and said, "I can tell the difference between nothing and something and what you're doing is something definitely not nothing. It's something. Like a big something! Not nothing but something. So don't give me this 'nothing' crap. It's something. So… what's wrong. I might not be your best friend in the world, but I'm here and I'm willing to listen."

She didn't say anything. She just sat there, crying. I went to my closet grabbed my robes and changed. I was about to leave when she suddenly spoke. 

"It's Ron." She said. 

"Ron? What did he do? Do you want me to punch him for you? You've seen my skills, I'd totally kill the little rat!"

"No! He didn't do anything to me. I just…." She paused for a minute or two then continued. "I think… I think I fancy him."

I didn't know what to say to this so I just said, "Wow. That's… that's, wow."

"I know!" She sobbed. "I have no idea how to handle this! He's just my friend! I couldn't tell him, it would make things really awkward between us!"

"How do you know he doesn't like you back?"

"Because I know how he acts around the girls he's liked over the years, and he certainly doesn't act that way around me."

"Well…" For the first time in my life I didn't quite know what to say. For a minute at least. "Well maybe it's different with you!"

"I highly doubt it."

"Why? He knows you better than any girl in the world who isn't like, a family member right? He's probably just too comfortable around you to act…. How ever it is he acts."

"Somehow I don't think that's it."

"Why?"

"Because he likes someone else!"

"Really? Who?"

"Okay, I made that up."

"I thought so."

"The point is if I tell him I'll never be able to show my face in front of him again!"

"Yes you will! Like I said before what if he likes you back! Huh? If he does and you both are too shy to tell each other! That would be terrible! You've got to tell him!"

"No actually I don't. And I won't! It would ruin our whole friendship!"

"Unless it makes it better, if you know what I mean." 

"It won't. Trust me. He doesn't like me in that way."

"But how do you know? Have you ever asked him?"

"Well, no but… I can tell so just drop it!"

"Okay Hermione, fine. I'll drop it. I just hope you don't. I can tell you really like him now that I actually _talk_ to you about it. I had that happen to me once. It was torture to be with him and heaven at the same time and even worse torture when I wasn't with him. I found out three years later that he liked me at the same time I liked him. We could have been really happy for a while, you know? We might even still be together! I had to really try to get over him! Oh well. You win some you lose some. And if you want advise from me, it's to tell him and see how it goes. Who knows you might just find out he feels the same way about you."

She just sat there and started to get teary again. 

"Would you please tell Professor McGonnagal I'm sick and won't be coming to class today?"

"Sure, whatever. See ya later Hermione."

I took one last look at her before leaving for class. She was sitting on her bed and crying. She looked just how she did when I walked in on her.

"Hey Skylar!" She called.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for talking this out with me. Even if it was kind of quick, it's helped a lot."

"Anytime Hermione."

"Thanks. Oh and please don't tell anyone about this!"

"It'll be our little secret."

She smiled at me and I smiled back. Then I walked out the door and down to class.

After that Hermione and I became friends. I guess that's one of those things that people do together and have no choice but to become friends afterwards. You know, kinda like knocking out a mountain troll or something.

A/N: Okay, so I kinda coppied off the brilliance of JK Rowling. You know, with the last sentence and all. Just remember I don't take credit for absolutely ANYTHING you recognize from the Harry Potter. Oh and don't forget to review!:D 


	8. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven.

That night at dinner Hermione kept on glancing at me as if she was embarrassed about what she had said earlier. 

"Hermione!" I said in a whisper. "If you keep on looking at me like that Harry and…. Ron will suspect something is up!" 

"I know, you're right! It's just I'm so…."

"Embarrassed about earlier?" I finished for her.

"Yes, that." She said with a slight note of shame in her voice.

I sighed. "It's not that bad, Hermione."

"Yes it is!" She said a little too loudly. 

"What?" Ron said. He and Harry had turned to look at her. She bit her lip.

"Okay, umm yeah. We're trying to have a private conversation here. So… bye." I said. 

"Okay fine. Just can I have the potatoes?" 

"Sure." Hermione said and she handed him the bowl. As he took it their fingers touched. Hermione blushed and turned away quickly, and Ron cleared his throat and began talking to Harry about scissors. Which was weird. They had been talking about Quidditch before. 

I grinned.

"What?" Hermione asked with her eyebrows raised. 

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all." Hermione gave me a suspicious look, then I went on. "Anyway as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," I said half to Harry and Ron. They glanced at me quickly again. Then went back to their conversation. 

"Do you really think that, you know…." I lowered my voice. "Liking Ron…. Is that big of a tragedy?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"Because!"

"Because why Hermione?"

"Because it's Ron!" She shouted, suddenly losing control of her voice volume.

"What's me?" Ron wondered, looking over.

"Nothing's you! Would you stop butting in already?!" Hermione cried.

I went on silently as soon as Ron raised an eyebrow and looked away. "So? What difference does that make? How is he different than any other boy you've ever liked?"

"Because…. He's Ron!" This times she was oodles silenter. "You wouldn't understand!" 

"Yes I would! I liked my best friend Tommy my third year of Arrowhead! I wasn't going to tell him but then my friend Sara talked to me! And you know what happened? He liked me too! We dated for over a year! Then I dumped him. That was when I started to like Josh. The other boy I told you about. But guess what, Tommy and I are still friends! In fact we're best friends! And I'm glad we had our little thing. We wouldn't be half as close as we are today if we hadn't!"

"Well you're not me and Tommy isn't Ron!"

"Really captain obvious?" I said sarcastically.

"All I'm saying is that we're all different people, who get in different situations, and have different emotions. The key word here is _different. _As in what happened to you in your third year has nothing to do with what's happening to me right now! It was a different thing all together!"

"So it was different people! What if it's all basically the same thing though? Huh? You gonna let your chance slip?"

__

"It's not the same thing! Don't you get it? It's….it's just not!" 

"Whatever. I don't know about you, but I got homework. See you guys later." Then I stood up and walked out of the room. 

About a half an hour later Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the common room.

"We better get going on our homework." Ron said sadly. 

"I've already done mine." Hermione said airily.

"Okay then _you _can get going on our homework."

"Oh please Ron. I'm not going to do your homework for you."0

"Oh come on Hermione, _please!"_

"No, I'm going to bed."

"But it's only eight!"

"No. It's nine and I'm tired." She replied irritated. 

"But if you're not going to _do_ my homework you at least have to _check _it!"

"Fine I'll check it during breakfast tomorrow."

"But I won't ha0ve enough time to fix it in the morning!" 

"Yes you will. You just can't sleep in again." 

"I don't know what you're talking about! I never sleep in!"

She snorted. "Oh please. You never _don't _sleep in." 

"That's not true!"

"Yes it is!"

"I'm not as lazy as you think!"

"Yes you are! I wouldn't be surprised if you were _more_ lazy than I think!"

"Here we go again." Harry said as he massaged his temples. I looked at him. Hermione and Ron were too busy yelling at each other to notice anything we were saying. People around the room were paying no attention to Ron and Hermione. It looked as though they had gotten used to it. The most anyone did was roll their eyes.

"Do they fight like this very often?" I asked half looking at them and half at Harry. He let out a short laugh. 

"Yes! This is amazing! It's is the first time they've fought all day! They average about oh I don't know, three to ten fights a day. But it's getting better. The fights are a lot shorter now. I remember one in the third year, it was about their pets. I don't exactly remember how long it was but it was a _long_ fight. Then they had one in the fourth year when Ron didn't like Hermione going out with Victor Krum." 

"Victor Krum! Isn't he the one like really good Quidditch player for Bulgaria? That's so cool! Hermione dated…" My voice faded a little and it had a note of smugness to it. "him?"

"Yeah. Ron got really upset. Don't ask me why. He gets really mad when ever Krums name comes up now." 

I smiled deviously. 

"What?" Harry asked.

"Harry, I think Ron likes Hermione!"

He raised his eyebrows at me. "What?"

"No seriously! Look at the facts. Ron and Hermione fight like all the time."

"If you ask me that means he _doesn't _like her."

I laughed. "Boys. No. You see that only means he's in denial. He likes her but he doesn't want to so he fights with her any chance he gets so maybe he'll get mad at her and won't like her. But of course he would never say he likes her _out loud!_ He's a boy and that's simply how boys are…. Or at least _most _boys." 

He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something closed it again then opened it once more and said, "No. It can't be. I mean Ron, and…. and Hermione? It just can't be."

"Aha! You know that what I'm saying makes perfect sense! And come on, Ron and Hermione would make a really cute couple." We both looked at them at the same time. Hermione was breathing deeply and her cheeks were red and puffy. She stomped her foot and stormed up to the girls dormitory. Ron threw his hands up in the air with frustration.

"Yeah." Harry said sarcastically. "They'd make the perfect couple."

"Hahaha very funny." There was a silence then I said, "Well, I'm going to bed now. Good night."

"Night Skylar." 


	9. Chapter Eight

A/N: REVIEW!!! 

Chapter Eight

"Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Hermione was saying as I walked into our dormitory.

"You know, I wouldn't have done his homework either." I said reassuringly.

She looked up at me. "That's not why I'm upset."

"I didn't think so. From what I hear you guys are constantly fighting."

"Yes, we are."

"Why? You do know that he's not gonna ever like you if you always disagree with him." 

"I know that. It's just sometimes he says the most stupid things. Sometimes it makes him look really cute, but sometimes, like him getting mad at me for not doing his homework it just makes me mad. I guess I overreacted. I should just stay calm and leave the room when he does that."

"Yeah, you should." She glared at me. "What? You said it, I was just agreeing with you. Anyway I don't think you'll believe me, but…. I think Ron likes you."

"We've already been through this. He doesn't." she said dully.

"Listen," I gave her my theory

She thought about it for a minute, then said "No. It's not possible."

"It's not _probable._ I got that from Pirates of the Caribbean. Have you ever seen that movie? Do you even know what a movie is? Well it's this really cool muggle thing and you can see stuff that's happening but the people can be like back in time, or a long, long way away and it's really cool! But anyway, Pirates of the Caribbean, it's really good. You're probably wondering how I know what a movie is, huh. Well one of my friends is a muggle and he told me about them and took me to see one and…. This isn't the right time to tell you about movies is it?"

"No, it's not."

"Okay Hermione, here's the scoop, I'm like really, really sick of talking about this. You know what _I_ think, so I'll just let_ you _decide what you want to do."

Hermione gave me a pleading look, then gave up.

A week or something had passed since Hermione and I had had our last talk. Hermione seemed perfectly happy and normal, as if nothing was wrong. I was dying to ask her what she was going to do about Ron, so one day…. I did. 

"Hermione?" 

"Yes?"

"Umm, I hate to bring this up when you're in a good mood, but…." I lowered my voice. "What are you going to do about Ron?"

She smiled. "Nothing." I spilled my milk jug all over the table and looked at her in disgust. She just let out a short laugh. 

"But, but, but You can't…. _not _do anything!"

"Can't I? You told me to decide what I wanted to do myself, and so I did."

"Yeah, but I was sure you would tell him!" I was shocked.

"Well people are wrong sometimes." She replied calmly.

I sighed. "Hemione, don't…." 

She interrupted. "No Skylar, you don't. I'm not going to tell him so get over it." There was a silence. Then Hermione said, "We better get to class or we'll be late."

"Fine. Let's go." As I stood up I trod on my robes and fell over. I tried to stop myself from hitting the ground by grabbing onto Harry's robes, who grabbed onto Ron's robes, who grabbed onto Hermione's robes, who grabbed Parvati's robes, who grabbed Lavender's robes, who grabbed Seamus's robes, who grabbed onto Dean's robes, who grabbed onto Neville's robes, who tried to grab onto Katie Bell's robes who jumped out of the way squealing loudly, and all nine of us went tumbling painfully to the ground. Many of us groaned. Parvati Patil squealed, "My hair!"

"Oops!" I moaned. "Sorry everyone!" 

It was time for charms again. Harry Ron and Hermione were all sitting together and talking away as usual. But then something happened that was not expected. 

"Hermione Granger please come to Professor Dumbledore's office right away." Professor McGonagall's voice rang throughout the halls, and classrooms. Her voice sounded odd, almost sad even. I got a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Everybody stopped talking and looked at Hermione. I heard Ron say, "Whoa, Hermione, what did you do to get sent to _Dumbledore's _office?" He was grinning at her. 

"I-I don't know." She stuttered. Harry was looking at her with an expression that was a cross between puzzlement and amusement

"I was only sent to Dumledore's office because I was in trouble once, and that was when people thought I was trying to kill all the muggle-borns." He said. Hermione gulped and stood up, gathered her things and left the room. 


	10. Chapter Nine

A/N: Okay. I only have four reviews. And I'm not going to update again till I have 50! So get typin'! Tell me what you think! 

Chapter Nine

The day slowly dragged on. Hermione did not come to the rest of her classes. I heard Harry and Ron talking about her in Transfiguration. 

"She's been in there for quite a while, hasn't she?" Ron was saying.

"Yeah," Harry replied. "I wonder what's going on."

"She's probably going to come down here and tell us that she's graduating tomorrow or something." Ron 

"Somehow, I don't think that's it."

"Yeah, you're probably right." They both laughed a little. I tapped Harry on the shoulder.

"Yes Skylar? Can I help you? More theories on Ron and Hermione's love life perhaps." Ron looked at him weirdly. 

I smiled sarcastically. "No. It's just…. Hermione, I have a funny feeling, like something's wrong."

"Really? That's weird."

"Yeah I know."

"Well, it's probably nothing."

"Yeah, nothing…. But what if it's something. Like I told Hermione the day she told me that she…. Didn't like…. Spaghetti, I can tell the difference between something and nothing. And I think that this is something."

Harry looked at me suspiciously. "Hermione loves spaghetti. Anyway, as for the whole nothing something thing, its obviously _something_ just maybe not a _bad _something."

"Hmmm…. You know that makes sense. But I think it's bad. I never get bad a feeling unless well…. It's bad."

"Yes you do. It's called a mistake. Everyone makes them sometimes."

"Yeah I guess you're right. And I think it's better to think that there's nothing wrong as opposed to something."

"Right."

"Hey what did you mean by 'Theories about mine and Hermione's love life?' " Ron cut in. Harry laughed.

"What? I want to know!" 

"I didn't mean anything_ much _by it. Just something that Skylar said." I smiled at this. 

"What did she say Harry?"

"Not much."

"Tell me! If it's about me, I have a right to know!"

"Well that may be true but I'm not telling you."

"Harry! You, you can't do that! I want to know what she said! Tell me!"

"Nope, I don't think I will."

"Skylar! I always liked you."

"I'm not going to tell you Ron. You'll laugh. Although, deep down you'd know it's true." Harry rolled his eyes at this. "You know Harry, you sort of agreed with me last night."

"So? I've thought about it since then and it can't be." 

"What can't be?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Nope."

"Oh come on Harry let's just tell him. His whining is starting to get on my nerves." I teased.

"Very funny. Now, tell me!"

"Okay, Skylar thinks…. She thinks you and Hermione…. Fancy each other." Ron laughed falsely.

"That's ridiculous." He was nodding and smiling stupidly. I smiled at him suspiciously. He stopped immediately. He straightened up and said, "What?"

"Oh nothing. Nothing at all." He eyed me for a second then gave his attention to the teacher. 

After class Harry, Ron and I went back to Gryffindor Tower. As we entered the room I stumbled and did an accidental summersault. Harry and Ron started laughing at me, but stopped at once when we saw Hermione. She was sitting on one of the big armchairs by the fire. The look on her face was a terrible one. She was very pale. She looked sad. To sad to cry even. I had never seen anybody look that sad. It was awful. She didn't seem to notice us walk in, or anything around her for that matter. She was just staring unblinkingly at the fire. She was breathing heavily. We slowly approached her. 

"Hermione?" Ron said gently. She looked up suddenly.

"Yes?" Her voice was weak and shaky. 

"What's wrong?" Ron went on softly. 

She did not answer but instead said, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

We watched in silence as she stood up and walked up the stairs. I was very worried about Hermione. She had just gone to bed at four o'clock in the afternoon. Her homework was not done yet. She had not gone to any of her classes that day. I had thought earlier that day something was wrong. But for the first time in my life, I hoped _I _was wrong. 

I wasn't.


	11. Chapter Ten

A/N: Okay.....I wasn't going to update till I had 50 reviews. But then HermionesTwin1 pointed out that that's a little stupid. I was just really annoyed at the time about how little reviews I had. So sorry all. And thanx to HermionesTwin1! 

And for your other question HermionesTwin1: Hogwarts is far away too! I just don't know the names of many wizard schools!

Chapter Ten.

We just sat there in the common room, thinking. I could see a look of worry and concern on Harry and Ron's faces. Ron suddenly stood up.

"Where are you going?" Harry said looking up at him.

"I'm going to see Hermione." He replied plainly.

"How? You can't get up the stairs to her dormitory, can we?"

"I don't care. I have to make sure she's okay. I'm surprised you're not coming with me, Harry." At this Harry stood up and followed Ron to the spiral staircase that led to the girl's dormitory. 

"Okay, lets go." Harry and Ron both put a foot on the bottom step. As they did, I saw the stairs disappeared and a steep slide appeared in its place. I would have said something like, "Wow! I didn't know it did that!" But under the circumstances, I didn't think it would be the right time. Harry and Ron started to climb the up slide. About half way up Ron slipped and grabbed Harry's ankle bringing him down too. 

"Great." Harry said dully when they had hit the bottom. 

"Sorry Harry." Ron replied. Then he stood up and headed back to the slide. Harry sighed, and massaged his forehead for a second but followed. This time they were almost to the top but then Lavender had to come sliding down saying, "Tut, tut, tut. Naughty boy aren't allowed upstairs!" 

"Get out of our way Lavender!" Ron said angrily.

"No, you're not allowed, Ron!"

"Just move!"

"Hmmm, let me think about that for a minute…. No."

"Please, Lavender."

"Sorry Ron you can't go up there!" Ron was getting really mad now.

"You let me pass or I'll…. I'll!"

"Or you'll what?" She said smirking at him. I was strongly reminded of Malfoy. Ron was glaring at her, his fists were clenched up in balls at his side.

"Wow, you've really pissed him off now Lavender." I said. She looked at me, and then back at Ron. Then she screamed. Ron's hand had risen and had hit her hard on the nose. Blood was steadily flowing down on her face. She grabbed her nose and Parvati came over to see what was going on.

"What do you think you were doing?!" Parvati said in outrage. "Come on Lavender let me take you to the Hospital Wing. It looks broken." When Parvati said this Lavender whimpered and started crying. "You see what you've done?" Parvati said with one last glare.

"Whoa! Go Ron!" I said grinning at him. "Maybe she'll think next time before acting like such a bi …."

"Yeah, yeah lets just get upstairs." It didn't work the third time or the fourth or the fifth or the sixth, which is when Harry gave up, and didn't work the seventh time either but the eighth time, he got up. 

"So…." I said to Harry.

"So…. What?"

"I wonder what's wrong."

"Me too."

"I think I'm gonna go find out." 

"Okay have fun."

"What, aren't you coming with me?"

"Nope. I would never be able to make it up those stairs."

"Fine I'll go by myself."

"Okay then. See you."

"Huh, well this is weird."

"What is?"

"Nothing…. Well okay it's just….Nothing."

"What?"

"Well…. It's just _I'm _not Hermione's best friend, _you _are, and _I _seem to be more concerned about her than you. I guess you're the kind of friend who like, goes places with people but doesn't really care about them very much. Ugh, I hate famous people. They're all like that" He glared at me.

"I really don't like you sometimes."

"Why?" I smiled innocently at him.

"Come on, let's go."

"Yes!" So I climbed up the stairs and did my best to help Harry up too. When he was close to the top he slipped but I grabbed his hand so he wouldn't fall. Shivers ran up and down my spine. It took a while but I think we did a lot better than Ron did. We both made it up about fifteen minutes after we started trying. 

"Okay," I said. "Lets go." We walked down the hall to the dormitory. I was in the lead and when I got to the door I stopped suddenly before walking into the room.

"Ow! Skylar go!" Harry said, annoyed.

"Shhh! I don't think we should interrupt this." I whispered. I knelt down. Harry did the same. We didn't look in the room so we wouldn't be seen. 

"She was so small. So full of life. It just isn't right." Hermione was saying as she began to cry. I looked long enough to see Ron drop on the floor and wipe her tears away.

"Please don't cry Hermione. I can't stand to see you when you cry." Ron said gently. There was a suspicious silence. Harry turned to look.

"_UGH!_ Ron! You just _kissed _Hermione!" He said disgusted. Ron and Hermione quickly broke apart and looked at him guiltily. I slapped Harry hard on the back of his head. 

"Ow!" 

"You ruin everything Harry!" I looked at Ron and Hermione. "You guys…. Carry on." I smiled at them then grabbed Harry's ear and pulled him away. 

"Hey! Ow! Let go Skylar!" He wined the whole way down. When we reached the sofa I pushed him on the couch.

"What do you think you were doing?!" I said.

"Did you see them? It was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life!" 

"No it wasn't! It was cute! They like each other… Just like I said they did!"

"No they don't!"

"Then why were they kissing?"

"Well…. Hermione is very…. Vulnerable, right now."

"Ron's not!"

"So?"

"So that would mean that Ron took advantage of Hermione when she was sad! Would you rather believe that Ron is a sick perverted person who makes out with people because the other person will?" 

"No…. But…But…But…That's just…Ugh! "

"Get over it!" Harry had a disgusted look on his face. "Oh come on Harry it's cute! Not gross!"

"No, I would have to disagree.. I mean its Ron and Hermione…. Ki…" He took a deep breath. "I can't even say it!" I Suddenly started laughing at him. "What?" He said with his eyes popped out.

"You're…. Such… A guy!" I said between big fits of laughter. He looked at me weirdly. 

"You…. You're such a…. There isn't even a way to describe what you are!"

"I'm an individual!" I exclaimed brightly. "And I also have a letter to send so Bu-bye now!" Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. 

"See you later then." He said. I smiled at him and walked away. 


	12. Chapter Eleven

A/N: This is the chapter where you all find out what wrong with Hermione! Are you so excited?! lol! Please reveiw! 

Chapter Eleven

I walked into the owlery and looked around. There were many owls on the perches sleeping peacefully. I hated to wake one but I had a letter to send to Sara. I turned around and one particular owl caught my eye. It was large and had beautiful soft white feathers. I gently nudged it awake. It had such pretty amber eyes. I petted it softly as I tied the letter on her leg. She nipped my finger playfully then soared out of one of the open windows. I watched her fly away until I couldn't see her anymore. Then turned around and left the room. 

As I walked back down from to the owlery I fell down and landed on flat on my stomach. And in perfest timing too. Henry Porter was walking up to me.

"Hey Skylar." Henry said smirking at me. "Long time no see."

"Thank goodness," I replied coolly, getting to my feet. 

"Listen, you meet me up in the astronomy tonight at mid-night." This wasn't a question.

"Uh….No." I smiled. He laughed a little.

"See you there." Then he grabbed my head and kissed me hard on the lips.

"_Ugh!" _I saidwhipping my mouth. "What was that!?"

"Just giving you what you've longed for since we got here." He said smugly.

"No! Giving _you_ what_ you've _longed for since the first day of Arrowhead! Well guess what! I hate you! I always have hated you and I always will hate you! Just stay away from me!" I screamed. He had gone too far this time. Then I slapped him hard on the face and stomped my foot. "And don't expect me in the astronomy tower tonight! You stupid, ugly, fat, a-" But I didn't get to finish my sentence.

"What is going here?" It was Professor Snape.

"She hit me and insulted me Professor!" Henry said quickly, obviously trying to stay out of trouble.

"He kissed me!" I said in defense.

"I do not need to hear about your personal life, Miss Matthews. Detention, and ten points from Gryffindor." Snape said in a calm yet deadly voice.

"But…But…That's not fair, you big pile of horse crap!" There was silence. And then,

"That will be fifty more points from Gryffindor, and detention every night this week. Don't bother to bring your wand."

I stormed into the common room, sat down on the couch and glared at the fire. 

"Hey Skylar. What's up?" Neville said cheerfully.

"What's up? Here's what up!" And I launched into my story about Henry and Snape and the points I lost for Gryffindor, and my detention. He looked at me wide eyed. "I was only saying hello." He muttered. 

"Oh," I said. "Sorry Neville. I'm just _really _pissed off!" He let out a nervous laugh.

"I noticed." I looked around. I needed something to distract my thoughts. And over in a corner I saw Harry Ron and Hermione, all sitting at a table in an awkward silence. Harry had his elbows on the table and his hands on his head. He was looking at Ron and Hermione with an expression that was a cross between disgust and bewilderment at how they could _kiss_ each other. 

Hermione had her arms crossed. She looked guilty and sad. She looked like she was about to cry again.

Ron was sitting up straight in his seat, which was not normal for him. He was very shifty and was looking anywhere but at Harry or Hermione. 

I stood up and walked over to their table. They all looked up at me for about five seconds then went back to their positions.

"Look," I said as I sat down next to them. "I really think we need to talk about this." There was a silence. "You, you know… about what Ron and Hermione did earlier and what Harry and me saw." 

Silence. 

"Umm, okay let me remind you. Hermione was sad. Ron went to comfort her. They ki-" I was interrupted by Harry saying, "Please don't say it Skylar. We know." I smiled. 

"Okay. Let's talk about what happened. Hermione? What have you got to say?"

Silence.

"Oookaay. Umm Ron?"

Silence. 

"H-Harry?" 

Silence. And then, 

"I'm sorry," Came a small voice that was Hermione.

"For what?" Ron said suddenly looking at her.

"This is all my fault."

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere!" I said smiling.

"No it's not." Harry said surprised.

"Yes it is."

"Okay, tell me about it Hermione." I said in a shrink like fashion. 

"It's just… Everything is happening so fast."

"What is?" Ron said, touching her hand for a second then pulling it away, his ears turning red.

"Skylar…The day you came upstairs to change, I was on my bed crying, I told you it was…It was because I…I fancied Ron," She looked at her feet when she said this, and Ron looked at her with an expiration that was both surprised and pleased. Hermione continued. "I wasn't telling you the whole truth."

"Oh. I guess it would be kinda silly to cry over that anyway, huh?" I said.

"The truth is, the full truth, is that was only a little part of it…My cousin got arrested for arson, and my little sister…She got in an accident, and was in a coma. The doctor said she would be okay…But she's not. And that's why I was called into Professor Dumbledor's office. She's dead." There was another silence. A tear leaked out of Hermiones eye. I could tell by the look on Harry's face that he didn't know Hermione had a sister either. Ron had obviously had been told before, because he didn't look as surprised as Harry and me. 

"But how is that make this your fault?" Harry asked. 

"If I could have just kept it all to myself! My feelings for you Ron, and the stuff about my sister, things would still be normal between us!" I looked at Hermione pitifully, and burst into tears.

"Oh….Her-Hermione!" I sobbed. "I-I'm so s-sorry! You're wrong! Th-this is all m-my fault!" 

"How is it your fault?" Harry asked, patting me on the back lightly. 

"I'm so n-nosey! I-if I wasn't such a s-s-stupid idiot everything would b-be okay!"

"No!" Ron put in. "It's my fault. I'm so insensitive! If I didn't disagree with every little thing, Hermione wouldn't be so sad!" Everyone looked at Harry expectantly, waiting for him to say what he had done wrong.

"What?" He said. "It's not _my _fault. And it's not your fault either. Hermione, I'm glad you told us everything. Because things won't be awkward between us forever, and now we can help you be happy again. And Skylar, I'm glad you're nosey. Hermione would have never told us if you weren't. And Ron, you're not _that _insensitive. People just disagree sometimes. Things happen, and it's not anyone's _fault. _We'll get through it together, one step at a time." (I know soooo cheesy!)

"Oh Harry," I said sniffing. "That was beautiful!" And I flung my arms around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He turned red and excused himself to the bathroom. 

A/N: Okay. I have no idea if Hermione has a little sister or not. But I needed someone and I like her parents too much!:D And thanks so much for all the reviews! 


	13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

The days went on. Things were steadily becoming more at ease between Harry, Ron, Hermione and me. And although Harry still wasn't used to Ron and Hermione's new relationship, he realized that Ron was what Hermione needed to be happy again. He therefore decided to be supportive. 

We sat in the common room late one Sunday night finishing up our Potions homework. Everyone else had already gone to bed.

"Oh, that's not how you spell it Ron." Hermione said as she checked Ron's report on the skin healing potion. 

"How do you spell it then?" Ron asked, annoyance in his voice. He always got in a bad mood during potion homework. 

"Well lacewings is one word, not two. Other than that it looks pretty goo….oh wait. No, this is wrong. Hmmm….So is this. You've really got to pay more attention in class Ron!" 

"And you've really got to mind your own business Hermione!" Ron snapped.

"Will you please stop yelling! I have a headache!" And with that she slammed her book down and stormed up the stairs. 

"You do know what an idiot you are, right?" I asked sleepily. Things had been so good and peaceful a minute ago. 

"_What?!_" Ron said in outrage. "How can you take _her _side?"

"Ron, she was trying to help you with your homework." I said as I let out a huge yawn. Ron stomped his foot childishly, then ran up to her dormitory. (He had mastered getting up the slide). 

Harry and I awkwardly sat next to each other on the couch. I could tell he was nervous about something, because every time he glanced over at me his face turned a bit redder.

"Something bothering you?" I asked.

"Uhhh…." Harry said dumbly. I glanced at him uncertainly.

"Should I take that as a yes…?" 

"No!" He said quickly. "Well…n-nothing's wrong…exactly," There was a pause. "You know," He started. "You know you're really," He took a deep breath. "Really…" he faltered.

"What?" I asked softly. 

Suddenly the space between us was shrinking. I found myself staring thoughtlessly into his eyes. My heartbeat quickened, my breathing short. Harry's words were quiet as our lips moved closer. "You're so…"

"Crazy?" I bellowed, just as we should have made contact. Harry jumped away, startled.

"Uhhh… Well crazy wasn't the word I was going to use. Uh, Crazier than c-crazy! Night!" He shouted, then bolted off to his dormitory. I looked at his retreating back dejectedly.

"He didn't even give me time to ramble."

As I turned the corner of the hallway that led to my dormitory, I saw Ron and Hermione standing there kissing.

"I'm such an idiot!" I said loudly. Ron and Hermione quickly broke apart with a jump. " 'Crazy?'! 'Crazy?'! Why did I say 'Crazy?' Stupid me! Stupid me! Stupid me! Man o man! Why? Why? Why?!" I started pacing around, pulling my hair and slamming my head against the walls, still moaning, "Why, why, Why?"

"Umm, Hermione? I think I'll go to bed now." He said looking at me uncertainly.

"Okay Ron." She said, then he gave him kiss on the cheek and he left. "Alright Skylar, what happened?" She said smiling at me.

"We almost kissed!" I said hitting my head on the wall again. She looked at me, surprised.

"Oh," She said lamely. Her eyes were wide and I could tell she was trying not to giggle. "And do you…Do you like him?" She asked.

"Well…Yeah." 

"I see."

"Sooo?" 

"So what?"

"Holy cow! So what do I do?" 

"Well what you need to do is…Think about it…"

"Think about what? The almost kiss? What good will that do?"

"Oh I don't know! I don't give good advice! I'm going to bed! Good night."

"Oh sure go to bed! _You _got your good night kiss!" I sighed and slid down the wall. Still thinking, *_Why didn't I just kiss him? I'm so stupid!* _Until I fell into an uncomfortable sleep.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

A/N: omg! Thank you all soo much for all the reviews! I have a total of 16 now! It's not exactly my goal of 50 but it's close! lol! Anyways hope you like the next chapter! 

Chapter Thirteen

"Skylar! wake up!" Came a sharp voice.

"Whayowan?" I said stupidly, waking with a start. "Hermione? What time is it?" I could see light coming out of the window in the hallway.

"It's time for breakfast right now! Hurry up!" I stood up, stretching and yawning. I stumbled into the dormitory. At first I tried to remember why it was I was sleeping in the hallway, then it came to me. Harry and I had almost kissed last night. I heaved a sigh starting to feel steadily more stupid and embarrassed, as I got dressed. 

I walked down to breakfast alone that morning. ("I will not be late just because you weren't responsible enough!" said Hermione). When I sat down next to Ron, with just enough time to eat some toast, Harry was struck with a sudden coughing fit, and excused himself to go to Madam Pomfrey to cure it. 

"I don't think that was natural." I said gloomily to Hermione as I watched him exit the hall. 

"Why not?" Said Ron curiously. Hermione suppressed a giggle. "What?" 

"Didn't Harry tell you?" I asked, my eyebrows raised.

"Tell me what? No." Ron said. 

"Oh. Good."

I walked into Charms and took my seat in front of Harry, without either of us saying anything to each other. I knocked over my ink-bottle.

"Oops!" I said starting to chew on my hair. I did that when I was nervous but couldn't talk. Class started, but I wasn't really paying any attention. I was startled when people started standing up to practice the Disillusionment Charm. I glanced at Harry. I caught his eye for a second before turning blushing bright red. 

"Now pick a partner class." Professor Flitwick said over the loud chatter. 

Predictably, Ron and Hermione chose each other and left Harry and me as partners. We walked nervously toward each other. 

"Hi," Harry said awkwardly.

"Hey, Harry." I said. "Lovely day isn't it? Except the fact that you're getting sick. Why else would you cough, and cough, and cough, so much that you needed to go to the hospital wing? Unless of course you just had food poisoning! In that case the house-elves should be fired! But if not you really should lay down and rest so you don't get sick! Or go and take some pepper-up! That'd help you! Or is your coughing problem over? In that case you don't have to do any of the crap that I just said because you're not sick at all, and you won't _be _sick either. So how are you feeling? Good, bad, both? Wait, how could you feel _both_? Well I guess you could feel okay but not great. But then would that count as being sick? I hear the flu is going around. Do you think you have tha-"

"Skylar!" Harry interrupted loudly.

]"Oh….Sorry. We have to work on the Charm, huh?"

"Yeah. So do you want to try it first?"

"Sure." I tapped Harry hard on the head with the tip of my wand. A little too hard.

"Ow!" Harry said. The whole class stared at him "What?" he asked, a little confused. I looked guiltily at him. "What?" He said more suspiciously. People started to laugh. Even Ron and Hermione. "_What?_" He asked yet again. He scratched his head and his eyes widened. He began to feel his head franticly. His hair had vanished to be replaced by pink and blue Pokka-dots.

"Sorry, Harry!" I said, chewing on my hair again.

"That's okay, Skylar." Harry said, his face burning red with embarrassment, yet trying to stay calm.

"Umm, maybe you should go to Madam Pomfrey, to get your hair back, and those Pokka-dots removed."

"There are Pokka-dots?"

"Ooh, um yeah." Harry nodded slowly. "Here, take my hat." I took off my hat and set it lightly on his head. He adjusted it and left for the hospital wing. 

Later that day after classes, Ron, Hermione, and I walked into the Gryffindor Tower, to find Harry sitting on an armchair by the fire, with a thick hot pink gel on his head.

"This is for the Pokka-Dots." He explained. "I'm supposed to go in tomorrow to my hair back."

"Well that's good news!" I said cheerfully. "You can re-grow your hair! And maybe a little less messy too! Oh, not that your hair is bad or anything! It's just, well you know messy. Did you ever try cutting it? Or _brushing _it for that matter? Ooh, sorry! Did I offend you? Your hair isn't really that bad! In fact it's nice! I like your hair! I guess. It can look okay when you brush it! But it didn't look its best today! It looked really bad today so you don't have to worry about-" 

"Okay! I get it!" 

"Oh. Sorry." I sat down and started chewing my hair.

"That's really is a bad habit, you know," Hermione said abruptly looking at me. "Chewing on your hair like that."

"Is it now?"

"Yes. Not only is it bad for your teeth, and your hair, if you were to swallow some by accident, you could get very ill."

"Good to know, Hermione." I said grabbing more hair with my tongue. She sighed, reached into her school bag and pulled out a book.

"We should get going on our homework." She said now pulling out parchment and a quill.

"Yeah, I guess so." I said wearily. 

"What first?" Harry said reaching for his bag.

"Charms do you…What?" I said irritably. Ron was looking at me with a puzzled expression on his face.

"It's just…" he began. 

"Yes?" I said.

"Since when are you our friend?"

"What?" I said blankly.

"Since when were you our friend?"

"Uuh…"

"No really. I never liked you very much. Before now!" He added hastily. I raised my eyebrows at him. "I mean, you talk to much, you're nosey, and clumsy, _and _you just made Harry's head look like my Aunt Gretchen's favorite dress." Harry looked as though he wanted to burst out laughing. 

"So the truth comes out!" I said angrily. I slammed my book shut and stormed across the room for my dormitory. People watched me curiously as I went. 

"You know just what to say, don't you Ron?" I heard Hermione say before their voices, and Harry's hysterical laughing died away. 


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Oh my gee golly gosh! I have 20 reviews! 30 more to go! Thanx so much for reviewing! Keep up the good work! Hehehe!:P 

Chapter Fourteen 

I walked along the hallway that leads to the dormitory. There I heard Parvati and Lavender giggling their heads off about something. I decided to listen in, in case they wouldn't share the joke if I walked in on them.

"Really?" Lavender said. 

"Uh huh!" Parvati replied.

"How do you know?" Lavender asked, giggling a little more.

"Because I saw it!" Parvati said with glee.

"Give me all the details!" Lavender said, shifting on the bed to listen more closely.

"Well I was just getting back from detention with Dungbee,"(my pathetic attempt at the new DADA teacher). "And when I walked in I saw Skylar and Harry getting pretty cozy there on the couch." (they both giggled). "I decided not to go in just yet, you let them have time alone. But it turns out they didn't really need it. They were getting closer, and closer, and closer, and then Harry whispered something I couldn't hear, and Skylar, the moron, yelled 'Crazy?'! It was the saddest thing I have ever seen! He like, jumped as far away from her as he could! Then he bolted to his dormitory as fast as possible, obviously realizing his stupidity. I mean who would kiss _Skylar? _Maybe Neville Longbottom. And only because he's desperate for any girl to like him. Even Skylar Matth-"

__

"Wait, what's wrong with Skylar?" Lavender cut in. "I always thought she was pretty nice! And Neville is not desperate!"

"Sure she's nice, but she also talks too much. It gets very annoying after a while. She's nosey and clumsy _and _did you see what she did to Harry's head? That makes it obvious that she's not the smartest person in the world either."

"Well I guess that's true."

"She's not really that pretty either." Parvati added as an after thought.

"No. I guess you're right."

"Course I am. Now I'm going to sleep." I felt tears form in my eyes. I quickly blinked them away. So this is what people really thought of me. Ron had said it, and now Lavender and Parvati had said it. I'm a nosey, clumsy, stupid, ugly girl who talks too much. 

"Skylar?" Hermione said walking up behind me. "What are you doing standing here in the hall?" She noticed my wet face. "What's up?"

"Tell me the truth!" I said looking at her miserably.

"What?"

"Do I talk to much?"

"Well…"

"And am I nosey?"

"Just a…"

"And am I really _that _clumsy?"

"You can…"

"And am I stupid?"

"Of course…."

"And, and am I ugly?"

"No! Why would you say such things?"

"Just some things that some people were saying about me. And you heard Ron. Maybe they're true."

"Do you really want the truth?" I opened my mouth to say "yes" but closed it again. Did I really want to know the truth, or did I just want reassurance that it wasn't true? There was a short pause where I considered the matter. 

"Yes." I heard myself say after a minute, still not sure that was the true answer. 

"Okay…." Hermione began. "Skylar, you do talk an awful lot, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing! I mean, it can be quite comical to watch you ramble on about nothing. Then again, it can be annoying when you don't stop talking in class or something. It makes it much harder to concentrate on our schoolwork."

"So I do talk too much." I said miserably. 

"No, not too much, just more than necessary!"

"Too much." I repeated.

"Bit too much yeah." I heaved a huge sigh. "And I wouldn't say you're _nosey _just very persuasive."

"Meaning…?"

"Meaning, you have the ability to make people tell you thin—"

"Nosiness." I said dully

"Well…Yes. But as long as you use your uh…'nosiness'….for good instead of evil...."

"Oh pa-lease Hermione! Who are you to lecture me on being nosey when you Harry, and Ron are the all time champs?!"

"Yes but we—"

"Save it and go to the klutz part of me."

"Okay. I'm not even going to pretend you're not clumsy. But you're not _that _clumsy. I mean, everyone is a bit clumsy sometimes. As for the stupid thing, you are definitely not stupid. You told me the Sorting Hat almost put you in Ravenclaw. And you are a very pretty girl. You feel better now?"

"Yeah. Thanks Hermione." I pulled her into a huge hug. When she pulled out of it I smiled at her for s second then said, "Let's go to bed." And with that we walked into the dormitory.

"Sorry." Parvati said as I laid down in my bed 

"What?" I said, looking at her, surprised.

"I know you heard what I was saying about you."

"Oh. Yeah...How did you know I heard?"

"I heard you talking to Hermione." 

"Good. Maybe next time you'll think before opening your big fat mouth!" I said sharply. She looked down at her knees.

"You have every right to be mad at me. But I want you to know that I didn't mean any of it!" Parvati looked up at me again. "I like you! I know you're not stupid, I just asked you for help with my Transfiguration homework last week. And you're not ugly and you're not nosey or any of that other stuff I said." 

"Then why did you say it?"

"I guess it's because I'm jealous of you."

"Of....of me? Why? You're so pretty, and popular, and everybody likes you." 

"I guess so. But you are too! Not to mention funny, and s mart. And...and Harry obviously likes you...a lot." She finished, looking down shamefully.

"He does?" I said hopefully.

"Yeah," Parvati said smiling sadly at me.

"Oh, you like him too, huh?"

"A lot." 

"You do!?" Lavender said, her eyes popping out. Parvati glared at her. "Oh, sorry." 

"But it's okay. He likes _you. _I'll stay out of the way."

"Really?" 

"Yeah." 

"Oh, but now I feel guilty!" 

"Don't! Nothing could happen between us anyway! He likes you, and you like him so go for it!"

"Thanks Parvati! I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!"


	16. Chapter Fifteen

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated for so long! I have had a mental block. I still kinda do. This chapter really sucks. But please R&R anyway! Anyway, in the last chapter, Parvati was kinda mean at first but she's nice now. lol! Also I know that I haven't really been writing about what time in the year it is. But we'll be getting an idea about that as well. 

Chapter Fifteen

The next day Harry's hair was completely restored in its full messyness.

"Your hair is back!" I said that morning at breakfast.

"Yeah, and I didn't even have to go to the hospital wing." Harry said back.

"How come?"

"Dunno. It grew over night."

"Ooh, that happened to me once! I went to this student hair place and the person kept on screwing up so she cut it shorter and shorter and shorter and it looked really stupid and the next day was the first day of school so I really didn't wanna look stupid and I was really stressing about it and the next day my hair looked great! I was like so relieved! Cool, huh?"

"Yeah that's great. Could you pass the eggs please?" 

It was almost Thanksgiving and I was ready for the break. That was what _I_ was going to be giving thanks for this year. The homework was taking up most of my time, and trust me... I have much better things I could be doing. I still hadn't heard from Sara. It had been almost a month.

"Has anyone seen Hedwig?" Harry asked one night in the common room.

"What's a Hedwig?" I said, stupidly.

"She's my owl." Harry said back.

"Oh. Well I haven't seen her/him/it." 

"I saw her about a month ago. She had a letter." Hermione said, looking over the top of her book.

"Who would use her, though?"

"Dunno." Ron said.

"And what does this 'Hedwig' look like?" I asked. 

"Uuh...Well she's white and umm has amber eyes...and is big..." Harry said.

"That was very articulate of you Harry!" I said sarcastically. "But I know where she is!" 

"Where did you send her?" Harry asked dully.

"Heh... Bulgaria." I said sheepishly.

"Bulgaria?" He repeated weakly. 

"Yeah. Hey...haha...How about that....break! That's coming...up..."

"Don't try to change the subject! Why did you send my owl to Bulgaria?"

"I didn't know it was _your_ owl! And my best friend goes to school in Bulgaria and I don't have an owl and I needed to send Sara a letter and she was there and I liked her and she looked young and able to take on a long trip so I just used her. Sorry." Harry nodded while rolling his eyes.

"Who have you got a letter to send to anyway?" Ron asked Harry.

"I don't. Just haven't seen her in a while." 

"I'm sure she'll be back any day now!" Hermione said sensibly. 

"Right." 

"So does you're friend go to school with Hermione's boyfriend, Skylar?" Ron asked, glaring at Hermione.

"Oh for heavens sake Ron!"

"Hermione has a boyfriend in Bulgaria?" I asked grinning slyly. 

"Yes—" Ron started.

"Hermione! What about Ron! You playa!"

"I do not have a boyfriend in Bulgaria!" Hermione cut in. 

"Does 'Vicky' know that you're not his girlfriend?" Ron said his eyebrows raised.

"You are so childish." 

"So he doesn't!" Ron said triumphantly.

"Ron, _you're _my boyfriend. Not Viktor." I giggled. Ron glared at me. 

"Why would you like me more than Viktor Krum?" Ron asked grudgingly. . 

"Oh yeah! I remember now! Hermione dated Viktor Krum!" Ron chose not to notice this comment and went on.

"He's an international Quidditch player and I'm...Just me." 

"You're right." Hermione said. "I don't know why I would like you more than Viktor. But I do." Ron grinned sheepishly at her. She leaned in and kissed him softly. I grinned girlishly at Harry who pretended to throw up over the side of the couch. 

"Shut up!" I said as I threw a pillow at his head.

"Hey!" Harry said seriously. "_Nobody_...throws a pillow at my head and gets away with it!"

"Oh really?" I said innocently.

"Yeah really." Harry picked up a particularly large squishy red pillow and started hitting me viscously with it. 

"Aah!" I screamed, giggling loudly.

"Okay!" Yelled a third year. "Pillow fights are all well and good but I need to concentrate so could you take it outside?" 

"Oh, sorry." I said trying to calm down. Harry smiled slyly at me.

"Don't you think this is over!" He said deviously. I laughed stupidly.

"Hey, you know what I don't like? Heh...Bats! Bats are ugly and gross and creepy and eat bugs! And whatever eats bugs can't be good therefore they're bad! And bad things are you know...bad! Have you ever seen a bat? Not I! And I'm proud of it! You know how people often say bats are like rats with wings? Well my friend had a pet rat and I held it so I guess that's kinda like holding a bat without wings! Don't you think it would work the same way? Like bats are like rats with wings so it would be like rats are like bats without wings! I think it would work! Well I'm really tired so I think I'll go to bed. Goodnight Harry! Oh, and Ron and Hermione too!" When I reached the stairs I looked back for enough time to see Ron smirking at Harry and Harry reply to the smirk with a clueless, 

"What?" 


	17. Chapter Sixteen

A/N: WARNING: This is my fluffy chapter. We're talking, pure, unadultured, 100% fluff. Happy? This chapter has no purpose but to be fluffy. So. If you want to read something with a point, go elsewhere. I'll try not to jump into it, but I'm all too excited. Enjoy!

Chapter Sixteen

The next morning, I woke up with a strong feeling of guilt in the pit of my stomach. I couldn't believe I said that about Harry's hair! Harry's cute, messy, truly Harry hair.

I sat at breakfast, trying desperately not to look into those adorable green eyes, and not saying a word.

"Gosh, I like him." I muttered to myself.

"What was that?" Hermione asked, suddenly. I froze.

"I said...that...posh is like pim. Yeah. You know...you know what pim is right? It's this...really...squishy...food! Yeah, it's food! It tastes kinda like...umm...garlic powder! Yep! And as we all know, garlic powder is pretty darn posh! Don't you think? I think. Not very much, of course, but I think! Haa! Get it? Do ya? Do ya?"

"Not really." Hermione admitted, shaking off my outburst and returning to her bacon.

"That was a close one!" I whispered, sighing with relief.

"Did you say something?" Ron asked me.

"No! Would everyone stop with the third degree already! Jeez!" I cried, throwing my toast down and running out of the great hall.

My break was plagued by the feeling of guilt growing inside me like a...really big...watermelon. Or something. I was close to exploding. Every time I looked at him, whether we were hanging out with the big scary giant or eating cookies by the lake, all I could think was, _I love your hair! I love your hair! _ And late that night, as we were working on our ridiculous amounts of homework assigned over the break, I couldn't stop looking at that gorgeous mass of black atop his head. I was only broken out of my lock-looking trance by some yelling in my general area.

"It's not that difficult, Ron!" Hermione screamed, throwing a quill onto the desk.

"Well, I'm sorry we're not all as brilliant as perfect little _Hermione_!" He shouted in exasperation.

"Aye, here we go again." Harry sighed.

"Y-yeah." I said, for once lost for words. He was such a babe!

We took our eyes off each other long enough to see Ron silence Hermione with a sudden kiss. Harry shook his head and covered his eyes.

"Aww, how cute!" I squealed. "You guys are cute." But they didn't appear to be able to hear me. In fact, the kiss was getting a little too intense even for me. "Get a room!" And still I was ignored. When Hermione began to run her hands through Ron's hair, I couldn't look anymore. "Whoa! Talk about your PDA!"

"Your what?" Harry asked, peeking for a moment. I was about to tell him that PDA equals Public Display of Affection. Then he saw them. "GOOD MERLIN'S BEARD!" He cried. "EVACUATE!"

He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me away from the terrifying scene before us. We ran melodramatically to another corner of the empty common room.

"I'm going to be scarred for life." Harry said solemnly. We both laughed then continued to work on our homework in silence.

_Hair. Hair. Hair. Hair. Hair. Hair._

"I'm sorry!" I blurted abruptly. He looked at me, a puzzled expression on his face.

"For..."

"Saying what I did about your hair! I never thought your hair looked bad. And, messy isn't a bad thing...in fact...it's kinda sexy." I ruffled his messy hair affectionately. He blushed.

"Uhh...thanks." He smiled. He paused. "Look, I think I need to say this right now or else I never will." He took a deep breath. "Skylar...you...are so weird. I have never met anyone at all like you. At all. You're so...out there. It's fascinating. And...your honesty with yourself and everyone else is something I admire so much. You...I...I really, really like you." He admitted earnestly. My eyes popped out of my head. "A lot." He added. "No one else...makes me feel...quite that way."

"Whoa." I said, dumbfounded. "I...well...me too."

Harry grinned a relieved smile that made me want to melt into jello.

"Can I kiss you?" He asked shyly.

I bit my lip and started leaning closer. He closed the remaining distance between our lips and suddenly, electric shocks were shooting throughout my body. Timidly, he put a hand behind my neck, giving me chills. He took his other hand and laced his fingers with mine. I grinned and looked into those emerald eyes as we slowly broke apart.

Suddenly, our bliss was broken as an astounded red head cried, "Bloody hell!"


	18. Chapter Seventeen

A/N: I'm glad most are enjoying my story. I'm having lots of fun writing it! Keep reading, and keep reviewing. Thanks lots for all the ones for my last chapter! And I'll be writing review responses to thank you all personally. They will be at the end of the chapter.

Now, onto the story!

Chapter Seventeen

"H-hi, Ron." I said nervously. "Did-did you have a nice time with Hermione?"

"Yes I did as a matter of fact. Did you have a nice time with Harry?" Ron asked, smirking at us.

"Oh yeah." I said nodding. "I mean...It was alright." Ron laughed. Harry's face had turned bright red. "So...umm...Have you gotten all your homework done yet? I haven't—" Ron interrupted me. " I can see that. You've been a bit busy haven't you?"

"You know what? Homework is stupid. I hate homework How about you? Oh my gosh what's that?" We all looked over to a small circular window on the other side of the room where we had heard a loud noise.

"It's just Hedwig." Harry said. Hermione had already crossed the room and was letting Hedwig climb onto her shoulder.

"It's for you Skylar." Hermione said walking over to us.

"I thought it would be." I replied, my face still burning red yet grateful to Hedwig for arriving when she did. I grabbed the letter out of Hermione's hands and began to read.

"Aaah!" I squealed. "Hermione!"

"What?" Hermione said.

"Hermione!" I said again.

"What?" I leaned over to her.

"Hermione! Sara lost her VL's!"

"She lost her what's?" Hermione asked.

"Her VL's! You know…'Virgin Lips'! She kissed someone!"

"She's not the only one." Ron muttered. I chose to ignore him, though mine and Harry's cheeks, which were beginning cool down, were a bright crimson again.

"Oh my gosh I have to go write her back! I can't even pronounce his name. Bulgaria. What a random country!" I said excitedly.

The next morning as we sat down to breakfast Harry reached for my hand and laced his fingers with mine under the table. I smiled at my plate. This was heaven! Even though Hermione could barley keep from giggling and Ron was still discreetly making fun of us. I didn't care. Harry liked me! Harry Potter actually liked me! I had never felt this way about anyone. Sure there was Tommy and Josh…but this was more. I wasn't quite sure what it was. But it was definitely more.

"Skylar! Hey Skylar come here!" I looked around. Henry Porter was looking at me, a smug look on his face as usual. I ignored him and turned back to my eggs and bacon.

"Skylar!" Henry yelled again.

"Leave me alone!" I moaned. He got up and walked over to me. I rolled my eyes and sighed, but smiled up at him when he tapped my shoulder so he could talk to me.

"You stood me up." He said.

"For…what?" I asked.

"Our date in the astronomy tower." Harry raised his eyebrows at me.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I said, more to Harry than to Henry.

"You know…our date. The one we made the day we kissed." Harry let go of my hand, cleared his throat, and took a drink from his mug of orange juice. Ron was watching with much interest.

"What the…._oh!_ Henry…you're so weird! That was like…a month ago! And A, I never said I would go out with you. In fact I remember saying that that I _wouldn't _go! And two, _you made me kiss you!_" I looked sideways at Harry then back at Henry. "I didn't want to, that's disgusting!" Harry put his cup down and gave me a look that said 'okay,' yet he didn't take my hand again.

"Sure." Henry muttered. "So to make it up to me I'll see you in the trophy room during lunch today."

"No!" I said, irritably. "Henry, _I don't like you!_ When are you going to get it through your tiny little brain?"

"Playin' hard to get with me, eh?"

"Henry…no. Just leave me alone, okay?" He walked back to the Slytherinn table, still smirking widely.

"I don't know how I'm ever gonna get through to that guy that I'm not interested! Sheesh!"

"Yeah, I know the feeling. They're interested and you're not…" Harry said. "You are not, right?" He added casually.

"Definitely not." I assured him.

****

It was the beginning of December, and the grounds were covered in a thick layer of snow. And because of this, Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology, our two afternoon classes had been canceled. We sat bored in the common room until,

"Let's go outside!" I said.

"What?" Ron said. "It's freezing cold out there. I'll pass thanks."

"Ron you're so boring. You have a cloak, right?"

"Well yeah but-"

"So what's the problem?"

"It's cold! We'll get soaked! Besides, I'm perfectly content here."

"Fine. Your loss. Any takers?"

"Not me thanks." Hermione said. "I'm with Ron. It's just too cold."

"I'll go." Harry said. "Can't be much worse than in here."

"Have fun you two! And behave yourselves!" Ron said, jokingly. I smiled innocently at him and went to get my cloak.

********

I met Harry in the entrance hall a half an hour later.

"Hey!" I said as I walked over to him. He kissed my cheek.

"What took you so long?" I shrugged.

"I'm a girl." I said plainly. He took my hand and we laced our fingers loosely as we walked out of the castle. I smiled.

"I love snow." I said.

"Why is that?" Harry asked.

"We don't get much snow in San Diego." I replied, looking around at the beautiful white powder.

"Well," Harry said, deviously, "Then I guess you don't mind if I do this!"

"Don't you dare." I said as he bent down and made a snowball in his hands. "Don't you dare!" I repeated as he threw the snowball. It hit me squarely in the face.

"You do know what I have to do now, don't you?" I scooped up a much bigger snowball than what he threw at me. The next thing I knew, we were engaged in a heated snowball fight. I slipped on the ice and Harry took this opportunity to clobber me with many snowballs.

"Hey!" I squealed. I grabbed Harry's foot and pulled him to the ground. He grunted as his body hit the ice.

"Serves you right!" I said. We broke down into a fit of laughter. As we calmed down, I blushed slightly as I felt myself move closer until our lips met. I put one hand on his shoulder and he put his arm around my waste, pulling me closer to him. We broke apart slowly. I couldn't help but smile sheepishly at him.

"Come on." Harry said. "Let's go inside." We stood up and walked back to the castle, his arm still around me.

We walked into the common room to find Ron and Hermione locked in an epic game of wizards chess.

"Hey, it looks Hermione might win!"

"Checkmate!" We heard Ron say triumphantly.

"Never mind."

"What happened to you two?" Ron asked, surveying mine and Harry's wet clothes.

"We er, we had a little snowball fight." Harry said.

"Yeah so I think I'll go change." I said "Goodnight Harry. Oh! And goodnight Ron and Hermione. See you in the morning." I smiled once more at Harry before heading upstairs to bed.

****

A/N: Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!

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SweetiePye2332: Thanks for taking the time to review! And I appreciate your honesty. It helps me write better! Now I might be able to improve her and make her less of a "mary-sue" and more entertaining. I'm glad you like the plot! And I would love to read your story!

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WhyDoYouCare36: Thanks! I'm so glad you like! Here's another update!

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PrettyPink: lol! Thank you, I work hard on her.

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thecurliegirlie: Hahaha, I'm working on it! Reviews fuel me! Keep reviewing!

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ViviBlack: You like fluff, eh? Well trust me there's much more to come! I think you're right. On some level, although probably not as extreme, we all have a little bit of Skylar in us. grin Thanks SO much for your review!

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danschickie: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you like it! It's good to know that people are enjoying this. Keep reading!

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bubble n squeak: Hehe. Interesting theories. I can see where you get your ideas, but in my case at least, you're pretty off. First of all, I personally know three people named Skylar, so I like the name, although it isn't my own. Second of all, her personality, her life, is completely fictional. I like writing. I came up with a character. I don't know what that has to do with "self-insertion". JK Rowling wrote original characters. Many people do. It has nothing to do with my fantasy, I just thought it would be a fun story to write. I, and lots of my readers, think she's a funny character. But whatever, not everyone has the same opinion, they don't have to. Now, you've said that you don't think my story is well written. Maybe you could give me some tips as to how I could improve? That's what criticism is good for, so if you want to criticize, at least do it helpfully. Thanks!

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ki-ki93: Thanks so much for reading! Can't wait to read yours!

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dillydally272: LOL! Thanks for your comments! Sorry about my sister. She's like in first grade, and pretty sensitive. When I read your reviews, I laughed. When she read them, she was deeply offended. Go figure.

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taniita: Sorry about the confusion. I can't remember which chapter, but it was after the disillusionment charm, and Skylar said, "Did you ever try cutting it? Or _brushing _it for that matter?... It looked really bad today..." Yeah, the guilt did come a bit late. Sorry about that! I am so glad you enjoyed the cuteness. grin Thanks for the review!

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dracosprincipessa: Four very's! Thanks a ton! I appreciate reviews so much...thanks for taking the time. I hope you enjoy what's to come!

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Ray2: Umm...Thanks? lol, live with it. I'm sure there will be more "nastiness". Enjoy that!

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PaulaS: Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you like. Here I am...still going. I hope you keep liking it!


	19. Chapter Eighteen

  
  
Chapter Eighteen

The next day I woke up with quite the sore throat and runny nose, but seeing as it was Saturday and the first Hogsmede visit of the year, I pretended nothing was wrong.

"It's just a little stuffy doze." I had said when Hermione noted that I sounded "ill".

I walked dizzily down stairs and rubbed my head. Oh no! I had one of my famous headaches! The kind I got every time I had a fever. I groaned loudly. Why did I always have to get sick on the worse possible days?

"What's wrong?" Harry said.

"Oh. Dothing." I replied grumpily.

"You sure? You look terrible." He said, feeling my forehead with his hand. I didn't want him to know I had a fever in case he, Ron and Hermione made me stay at the castle for our first Hogsmede visit, so I pushed it away irritably.

"Well thanks Harry." I said sarcastically. "I'b fide. Let's just go to breakfast, okay?" Harry looked at me skeptically but brushed it aside.

"Okay..."

XXXX

I didn't really have an appetite but I managed to eat a piece of toast.

"Doh!" I said leaning on my hand when I spotted Henry Porter walking over to me.

"So!" He said fiercely.

"So..." I said dully. "What?"

"So you're cheating on me!"

"Dot today, Hedry please! Dot today. What are you talking about?"

"Oh I think you know exactly what I'm talking about!" He replied, accusingly.

"Doh, Hedry I really don't." Henry glared at me.

"Yeah? I saw you, Skylar!" I thought hard. Then it hit me. So _that _was what he was talking about! _No Henry! _I thought. _Don't say it!_ But he did. "I saw you kissing this Harry guy yesterday!" The color rose in Harry's face and Ron's snort quickly turned it into a cough. I probably would have been embarrassed if I had had the energy.

"So?" I said.

"Okay," Henry said slyly. "We never said exclusively. Besides...I like a challenge." He bent down and kissed my cheek.

"Eww." I moaned when he stood up and walked away. Harry glared at the back at his head.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Hermione said.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"You just don't seem like yourself. Knowing you, you probably would have slapped him or something." I chose to ignore the question. She was right. I probably _would_ have slapped him.

"Let's go." I said before the conversation could go any farther. But who was I kidding? Harry, Ron and Hermione knew I was sick. I don't really know why it was they didn't make me stay. I was actually half hoping they would.

It was a cold, clear December morning and that was not good for my cold. I shivered nonstop as we walked down the streets of Hogsmede. I did not have the energy for this. I saw a bench on the end of the street.

"I'b sorry guys. I gotta sit dowd." I said wearily.

"You're sick aren't you Skylar?" Ron said, looking slightly concerned.

"Doh," I said sarcastically.

"We shouldn't have let you come." Hermione said. "At least not without taking some Pepper-Up first." _Pepper-Up! _I thought miserably. _Why didn't I take any Pepper-Up? I'm such an idiot! _

"Do you want us to take you to the castle?" Ron asked.

"Doh. Let's just get a butter beer so I cad rest a little." I replied, standing up shakily.

We entered The Three Broom Sticks and spotted a table at the far corner of the room.

"Look! There's one!" Ron said, though the rest of us had already seen it. We moved toward the table with some difficulty, as there was a very large drunken man blocking the way. We had the most trouble when he grabbed Hermione around the waste and tried to dance with her. At this Madam Rosemerta came over and kicked the man out. And to be honest...it was _really _funny. I just didn't have the throat to laugh. Harry however was cracking up and Ron put and arm protectively around Hermione's waste. Hermione was looking very taken aback and slightly shocked. I smiled vaguely at the situation as we sat down at our table. I put my head on the cold, hard tabletop and coughed loudly. Harry looked at me sympathetically.

"Come here." He said. I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes as he stoked my hair gently.

"So should I go get the drinks?" Ron said.

"I'll come with you." Hermione said, eyeing Ron with a suspicious look on her face. It was common knowledge that Ron used to "fancy" Madam Rosemerta.

While Ron and Hermione were gone Harry and I didn't say much to each other. We just sat there, with Harry stroking my hair, enjoying each other's company. And suddenly being sick didn't seem so bad. I had Harry and that made it all right.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. I was still sick but I managed to live through the day. We went into all Harry, Ron and Hermione's favorite shops and I loaded up on Honeydukes candy and Zonko's products. The only thing I wasn't able to do was go up to the Shrieking Shack. While Harry, Ron and Hermione were hiking up there, I went to The Three Broomsticks and got another butter beer and ended up having an actually very nice conversation with the giant Hagrid about Hagrid's very large dog, Fluffy.

"I'b telling you Hagird, bost people like little dogs better thad big dogs. Or at least _that_ big a dog. It would probably be hard to find sobeone who would want to take care of Fluffy if you were to go od vacatiod, for example." I said.

"Wha's wrong with my Fluffy?" Hagrid replied defensively.

"He's a giant three headed dog! He's a bonster! I very dice bonster I'm sure." I added, just as Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into the "pub".

"Hello Hagrid, Skylar." Hermione said.

"'Ello Hermione, Harry, Ron."

"We were just having a dice little chat about Hagrid's dog Fluffy."

"Fluffy," Harry said. "Ah the memories." We said our goodbyes to Hagrid and headed back to the castle. I skipped dinner and went straight to bed. I had had enough for one day.

A/N: Please review!

Review Responses:

**taniita:** Yay cuteness! Hehe. I love your idea! Will see where I can inject that one perhaps. As for the comment on Bulgaria, please do not take offense! My sister lived in Bulgaria for two years, I think it's an awesome country. Just kind of random...i.e., not a country you hear about every day. You know what I mean? And words from there ARE hard to pronounce for me (information gathered from sister's e-mails). I think it's so cool that you're from Bulgaria, so please understand that I meant "random" in no negative way. Rock on!

**BellaVolo:** Thank you. I will continue to try, and hopefully improve. I'll check out the link. Question: what is there besides Mary Sues...and not Mary Sues? I don't know. I'm having trouble with this one, because I'm actually quite fond of my Skylar character...but I'll try and get better anyway. Thanks for commenting!

**PadFootCc:** lol, thanks. Please read more!

**ki-ki93:** Thanks Kiersten! You're doing famously! xoxo!****

**WhyDoYouCare36:** Hehe, thank you tons. I'm glad you liked it! I don't know how quickly I did that, but here's more. Keep reading and reviewing, I appreciate it oodles.

**Voldie on Varsity Track:** Sowy! I did have a reason, but decided it kind of mushied up the story...if you will. I guess I should have left it there. It was really funny, but I felt it was a little bit pointless...bad call on my part. I vill try to be more detailed. lol. Thank you for the tip.

**chelsea:** Thanks! I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it and like my character, it's encouraging. Please keep reading!

**PrettyPink:** What a great review. Thanks! I appreciate you pointing out both good and bad. I will try to slow things down a bit. Hope you still like cuteness, I have this foreboding there will be more of it.

**jc2021:** Hehehe, gracias. Updating can be stressful, can't it? I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor. Review again!

**Karen:** Thank you so much for the encouragement! Gotta wonder what's going through those flamers heads, it's good to have someone on my side. lol, I'm glad you like it!

**waytoomuchtime:** Thank you! I'm glad you like!

**dillydally272:** Thank you for two things. In the flame part (lol), you mentioned that Harry was all "Romantic Sly Seductive" and that was a little out of character. You said something useful and I always appreciate that, even if it's littered with pointless degrading remarks. Hehe, not that I didn't get a kick out of it as always. I especially appreciated your "your story sucks but at least you're not immature" review...it was actually quite nice to receive. Showing a bit o' respect actually showed me that maybe you're not so terribly immature yourself. So there you go. Have a lovely day!


	20. Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

The next morning I woke up feeling at least twice as bad as I did yesterday. But today I remembered that there was a quick and easy cure. I dragged myself out of bed at one forty five in the afternoon and walked shakily to the hospital wing, still dawning red flannel pajama pants, a plain white T-shirt and Gryffindor toe socks that Sara, (who is very good with a knitting needle) had made and sent me.

"Badab Pobfrey?" I said walking into the almost empty room. Neville Longbottom was lying on a bed, looking much paler than usual.

"She wedt to get the Pepper-Up." Neville informed me, sniffing.

"Oh." I said, lying on a bed myself, just as Madam Pomfrey bustled out of her office, a bottle in hand.

"You too, Miss Matthews?" She said looking at me for a moment as she poured the potion into a goblet for Neville.

"Yes Ba'ab." I replied, wearily. She sighed and got another goblet from the cabinet. She filled it and handed Neville and me our cups. Steam came out of my ears, which was a very unpleasant feeling mind you, but when it was all over, I felt much better.

XXXX

As Neville and I were walking back to Gryffindor Tower we ran into Henry Porter and his friend Danny Morgan. I sighed. I just wanted to get by them untouched. I, needless to say, failed dismally.

"Skylar." Henry greeted smugly, grabbing my arm.

"Henry." I replied, pulling away.

"I don't believe I've met this fat friend of yours." Henry said, nodding toward Neville. Neville and I glared at him but resisted the temptation to respond. We didn't need to stoop to such a ridiculous level.

"Well it was very nice talking to you, Henry," I said sarcastically, "but we have to go."

"You sure? I was hoping we could sneak down to the kitchen. Have a nice romantic dinner for just the two of us."

"Well as umm...temping as that sounds, I'd really rather not." I replied.

"Oh come on Skylar. I know you want me. You know you want me. Just stop playing hard to get. It's getting old."

"Henry, you cannot possibly be that stupid." I sighed. "Let me pass."

"I don't think so." Henry said. "I want you to come and have dinner with me in the kitchen, gosh darnit." He grabbed my arm and tried to pull me in the direction of the kitchen.

"Ew, you're touching me!" I cried disgustedly. I was really annoyed now. Was he seriously trying to _make_ me go on a date with him? Cheese and crackers!

"Let go!" I shouted in utter frustration. Henry started to laugh, when...

"Ow!"

Danny, Henry and I looked at Neville. His arm was up and his hand fisted, while his face looked a little scared.

"Leave her alone." He squeaked.

"Oh, you are going to pay for that!" Henry said fiercely. Neville looked even more scared, but didn't back down. Henry raised his fist but was unable to connect it with Neville's fragile bones. I leaped quickly onto his back and covered his eyes.

"Neville, run!" I shouted. He didn't need to be told twice. He bolted off in the direction of the library. I jumped off Henry's back and ran off after him. We didn't stop till we reached the entrance of the library, where we simultaneously burst out laughing.

"D-did you see the look on his face?" I said through my laughter. I flung my arms around his neck and kissed his cute little cheek.

"Thanks Neville." I said smiling. "You're the best." Neville turned a light shade of pink.

"Thanks, Skylar." He said. "You too."

"Walk to the common room with me?" I asked.

"Thanks but no thanks." He replied. "I've got a lot of work to do. Ss long as I'm here I think I'll get started."

"Okay, Neville. I'll see you later. You're awesome!"

I saw him blush again as I walked away.

XXXX

I stepped into the common room and spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting at a table working diligently on homework. Well, Hermione was anyway. I ran over to them.

"Hey!" I said brightly.

"Hello." They said in unison.

"What's got you so happy?" Hermione asked. "Weren't you just in the hospital wing?"

"Yeah, but after that, Neville saved me from Henry." I said with a grin.

"You said what now?" Harry asked incredulously. I sat down and told them all about Henry and his attempted forced date/assault and Neville's daring rescue.

"Neville." Ron repeated.

"Yep, it was Neville. He's a good egg, ya know?"

"Yeah, he is." Harry said.

"But you're a lot sexier." I added slyly, looking at Harry and taking his hand.

He blushed a little bit.

"More so than Neville? There's no way."

XXXX

The next day at lunch, Henry walked over to our table.

"Skylar," He snickered.

Before I had a chance to speak, Harry stood up from the table.

"Only one person will be having romantic dinners with Skylar." He clarified. "And that's me." Without another word, his fist came in contact with the side of Henry's face. He sat down, fuming, as Henry walked away whimpering.

"So when were you planning that romantic dinner?" I asked teasingly. He looked down at his plate as I laughed out loud. "Oh, poor Henry. He's had a tough couple of days. And Harry, you officially get the good boyfriend award."

"Thanks?"

ï 


	21. Chapter Twenty

Holy moly! It's been so long since I've updated, I know! But with school, dance and a social life and what have you, I don't have a lot of time for it. Again, sorry and I'll update a lot sooner this time, I promise.

Now on to the story! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Twenty

"Harry…" I said, nudging him lightly. "Haaarry…" He swatted the air irritably before going back to a peaceful state. I giggled. He's so cutewhen he's sleeping. Harry had fallen asleep on one of the couches in the common room, his Transfiguration book lying on the floor and his glasses askew.

"Harry!" I said again, this time my volume increasing considerably. He jumped.

"Wha?" He said sleepily.

"Wakey-wakey!" I chanted in a singsong voice. Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"What time is it?" He said, putting his glasses back on.

"It's five to ten." I said, checking my watch. Harry's eyes widened.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up? Classes start in five minutes!"

"I know. I just woke up too. Just go change into some clean robes. I'll wait for you."

"Okay."

"Oh and Harry!" I said as he headed toward his dormitory.

"Yes?"

"Brush your teeth while you're at it. Your breath is stinky." Harry laughed.

"Right. Thanks, Skylar."

XXXX

It was the last day of termand Harry, Ron, Hermione and I just finished our last class until January. Okay, so when you say it like that it sounds like a lot more time than the two and a half weeks it really is. But hey, I want it to sound like a long time. All the teachers gave us a mountain of homework to do during the break. But Harry, Ron and I procrastinated as usualand Hermioneheaded towardthe library to get started.

"You really should come with me you know." She said, looking back at us "You'll regret it later if you don't."

"Yes we know, Hermione. But we want to enjoy our first day of freedom." I said.

"Whatever you say." Hermione said. With that she walked off in the direction of the library.

"Harry, Ron, what do you guys want for Christmas?" I asked.

"I need a watch." Harry said. "I've needed a new one since the fourth year."

"I want a Firebolt." Ron said dreamily.

"Ha! Like I could afford one of those! They're like…like really expensive! Try something that's within the budget of a Galleon or less. Like socks or something."

"Sure. Socks. Just don't you dare get me maroon ones! I hate maroon."

"Oh but Ron, you look so sexy in maroon!" Ron's ears turned pink.

"Shut up." He mumbled. Harry and I laughed at him.

"Ron, Ron, Ron." I said. "You are so fun to tease."

We walked back to Gryffindor tower discussing our plans for Christmas.

"I thought you were going home for Christmas, Skylar." Ron said curiously.

"I did too. My parents just wrote me and said I shouldn't come home. I really wanted to though. Sara's coming home and Tommy and Pete were planning on visiting this year but I won't be there. Cheese on crackers I miss them."

"Well look at the bright side." Ron said grinning. "You get spend Christmas with us."

"I don't know if I can consider that a bright side."

"Skylar." Said a smug voice behind us. I grabbed Harry's arm.

"Save me." I said desperately.

"Can I talk to you? In private."

"Actually I'm kind of busy right now. Bye!" I replied brightly.

"Now." Henry said bossily. I was about to tell Henry off but Harry beat me to it.

"Henry, leave her alone. She's extremely busy at the moment." He said irritably.

"You're just jealous." Henry snapped.

"Oh am I? What of?"

"Of the fact that Skylar likes me and not you!"

"Hen—" I tried to put in but neither Henry or Harry was listening.

"Sod off, Porter. If she likes you so much why is she with me?"

"Harry, Harry, Harry. It's pity."

"Whoa now." I said. "I do not—"

"Why would she pity me?" Harry said, ignoring me.

"Well, your parents are rotting six feet under." I gasped and put my hand on my mouth in shock and Ron swore loudly.

"That's it." Harry said angrily. He raised his fist.

"Harry…" I said cautiously. "Don't…"

"Shut up." Harry snapped. I backed down. It happened in a flash. There was a yell and a loud crash and Harry and Henry were rolling on the ground in a furious fight. I was too shocked to speak. Ron, apparently, was not.

"Woo! Come on Harry!" And then,

"What is going on here?!"

It was Professor McGonagall. Henry and Harry straightened up. Harry's lip was bleeding and there was a large red spot around Henry's eye that looked as though it would become quite a large shiner.

"Professor McGonagall," said Henry. "Fancy meeting you here." McGonagall looked angrier than I had ever seen her.

"Explain." She said. I was about to say something when Henry spoke up.

"Potter just attacked me Professor!" Henry said innocently. "Just out of the blue for no reason at all." There was false hurt in his voice. Harry, Ron and I bust out all at once in objection.

"That's not true—"

"Harry was provoked—"

"It's not his fault—"

"Henry was saying—"

"Quiet." Professor McGonagall said sternly. We all stopped talking. "I, frankly, don't care what happened. There is no excuse for fighting. Twenty points will be taken from both of your houses and you will each serve a detention. If I catch you fighting again you will have severe penalties to pay."

XXXX

"You really shouldn't have attacked him like that you know." Hermione said after we had finished telling her about what happened. We were sitting in Gryffindor tower a few hours after dinner doing "homework".

"Yes, we figured you'd say that." Ron said dully.

It was then that Colin Creevey came up to Harry and said wonderingly, "Harry, I heard that you beat up that Henry Porter guy. I didn't like him very much. Way to go." I laughed.

"Er…Thanks Colin."

Hermione looked disapprovingly at Colin, which scared him away.

"Hermione, come check my homework." Ron said. Hermione moved from the couch to Ron's chair where they quickly became rather, ahem, busy. Harry buried his face in his book to avoid the gruesome sight.

"I think I'm going to go to bed now." I said to Harry's book.

"Okay." It replied. "Goodnight." I walked over to Harry and kissed him swiftly on the cheek.

"Goodnight."

XXXX

Hermione came upstairs to bed about a half-hour after I did.

"Hello." She said as she dropped her book bag on her bed.

"Hey Hermione." I said gloomily.

"Something wrong?" she asked curiously.

"No. Maybe. Yes." I confessed. "Hermione, I can't help feeling like the fight was my fault."

"Why?" Hermione said.

"Because it all started because Harry and Henry were fighting over _me._ And then Henry said…well you know. I don't want to repeat it. I feel so guilty, Hermione!"

"I can—" But I didn't let Hermione finish.

"I like him so much, Hermione!" I cried. "So much!" I gave Hermione a meaningful look.

"Sky—"

"Hermione, I think…Yes. I think so."

"Are you going to tell me what you'reon about, Skylar?" Hermione asked.

"No." I said plainly.

"Okay. Just don't do anything stupid." Hermione cautioned.


	22. Chapter TwentyOne

A/N: I know, it's been forever! Dumb me! Dumb! But really promise that the next chapter will come a lot sooner. In the next week or so. Don't give up on the story, it's not dead, I promise! lol, and please remember to review!Anyway, enough babbling. On to the story!

Chapter Twenty One

I didn't sleep very well that night. I was thinking about what I was going to do the next morning, and what I was going to say.

I never got a chance that morning.

I woke up late again and Harry had already gone to breakfast. I didn't want to talk to him in front of everyone who had stayed home for Christmas. Or perhaps I was stalling. Nah, I never stall!

XXXX

I walked down from drying off in my dormitory after a cold, wet, yet ever so fun day outside. The common room was almost empty, except for Harry sitting on a chair by the fire working on some homework, and Ginny Weasley playing chess in a corner with Colin Creevey, watched by Colin's brother Dennis.

"Hey Harry." I said.

"Hi." Harry replied, looking up from his Potions essay. I plopped down on Harry's lap. He put his arms around me and returned to his work. I looked into the fire for a moment.

"Harry?" I said.

"Mm?"

"Uhh, where are Ron and Hermione." I said quickly. I groaned softly to myself, though Harry didn't seem to notice. I'll just have to try again.

"I think Hermione dragged Ron off the library." Harry said, without looking up.

"Oh." I looked at the fire again. And then,

"Harry?" I said again, rather timidly. I took Harry's essay from his hands and set it carefully on the floor. He held me a little tighter.

"Skylar, I—" I didn't know what he was about to say, and I didn't want to know either. It was probably something he thinks is really sweet and romantic but is really something stupid and insulting, making it something really sweet and romantic. I didn't think I could handle it. So I did the first thing I could think of to stop him. I kissed him. The kiss deepened. We sat there for several more seconds before I roughly pulled away and stood up.

"Harry." I sighed. There was a slight pause.

"Yes?" He asked.

"I—" I broke off._ Just say it!_ I thought. He looked at me questioningly. "I want to break up."

"What?" He said blankly. I could almost feel Ginny, Colin and Dennis look up from their game. I took a deep breath.

"I said I want to break up."

"Why?"

"I just—" But I was saved answering by Ron and Hermione climbing through the portrait hole. Ron was covered in what looked like Professor Sprout's dragon dung fertilizer, and Hermione was laughing extremely hard behind him.

"It's not funny, Hemione!" Ron snapped. Harry looked back at me with hurt in his eyes. I leaned down and kissed him swiftly on the lips, though he didn't return it, and walked quickly to the stairs, which led to my dormitory. At the top of the stairs I looked back and saw that Hermione had stopped laughing, and Ron was looking at Harry with an odd expression on his face.

"_What?"_ I heard him say, a note of great surprise in his voice.

"She dumped me." Harry said dully. I didn't want to hear anymore. I ran to my room and started violently beating up my pillow. After about a minute of this I stopped. Panting slightly, a tear leaked out of the corner of my eye, which I wiped forcefully away when I heard someone stomping up the stairs. Hermione slammed the door open.

"_Why?" _She demanded.

"Why what?" I asked in what I hoped was an innocent, off hand sort of voice.

"Don't you play games with me! You know very well what I'm talking about!" I gave up the act.

"I don't know. I just don't like him much anymore."

"Oh don't give me that rubbish! Last night you were barking mad over him. I— Ouch!" She shrieked. A large barn owl had just flown through the open door and hit Hermione in the back.

"Pooky!" I squealed asSara's owl zipped between Hermione's legs and landed contently on my shoulder. He dropped the letter he was holding in his beak on my lap. I ripped it open and read eagerly, glad for a reason to delay the conversation I knew was coming. I recognized Tommy's hand writing immediately.

"_Dear Skylar—_

_Sara, Pete and I have a special early surprise Christmas present for you. Head down to your common room at seven o'clock tonight. It'll be there for you. _

_-Tommy_

I looked at the clock, wondering what my early Christmas present could possibly be. Knowing those guys, it couldn't be anything good. It was six fifty.

"Hermione, can we finish this later?" I asked wryly. "My friends are sending me a 'special earlyChristmas present'." She glared at me. "I promise we will. I have to be in the common room by seven. That's when it's arriving."

"That gives you nine good minutes." I shook my head, stood up and strode out of the room.


	23. Chapter TwentyTwo

A/N: I know what you're thinking. "A week, huh." Sigh I'm horrible aren't I? Well lets go through my lists of excuses, shall we? Hmm...Well I got really, really ill. Then the computer died and it took like a week to get fixed.Then school, dance and a social life.Still that explains what...three weeks? Maybe four? Well I was waiting for my editor (i.e. my sister) to edit and add and tweek. Which she never did. So sorry for the wait, and sorryfor thesucky chapter you are about to read. Iwon't make any promises, but I sincerly hope that the next chapter will take a lot less time to update. As for now, just enjoy! I love you all for reading, and please don't forget to review!

SMS

Chapter Twenty Two

As I re-entered the common room I glanced over at Harry. I tried to pretend that it didn't bother me when as soon as he noticed me, he stood up and left, followed closely by Ron, who was sitting next to him. I sighed and walked over to the fire where my present was supposed to appear at seven o'clock.About ten minutes laterHermione walked over to me.

"I'm going to find Harry and Ron. I'll see you later. We are going to talk about this." She said.

"Yeah. See you." As the portrait closed behind her, I checked my watch. 7:01.

"Late as always guy—Ahhh!" I shrieked. Sara came shooting out of the fireplace.

"Sara!" I said in an unusually high pitched voice.

"Skylar!" She squealed. "Come here!" I ran into her open arms and hugged her tightly.

"Tommy and—" she started.

"Pete!" I moved from Sara to Pete and embraced him too. It was then that Tommy shot out of the fireplace.

"Tommy!" It was his turn for a hug. "How did you…how did you do this?"

"You know how Tommy and Pete were both sent to that school back in the US?" Sara started.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Well we had be talking through the fireplaces illegally all year." Tommy put in.

"And you didn't let me in on it?" I said.

"I know, we're such horrible friends aren't we."

"Yes you are! Now continue."

"So anyway, a few weeks ago we were talking about how we'd be sad inside if we couldn't spend Christmas with each other. And you." Sara said.

"And we couldn't because Sara's parents are going on cruise for the holidays, and I don't really know what yours are up to, but they told Sara's parents you weren't coming home." Pete said.

"Yeah. Why they didn't want me home, I don't even know." I said.

"Anyway," Tommy said. "We all sent letters to our parents expressing the sadness we had inside."

"Right. So our parents all wrote to the Headmaster slash mistress who wrote to your headmaster who gave us permission to spend the break here!" Pete finished.

"You guys are nuts." I praised.

"I know we are. Now tell me Skylar," Sara said slyly. "How's the lover boy." I sighed. Why did she have to bring Harry up? I had momentarily forgotten.

"You mean Harry?" I asked dully.

"Duh!" she said eagerly.

"Harry's fine. But don't refer to him as 'the lover boy'. We broke up." Sara's sly smile turned into a frown. As did Tommy and Pete's smirks.

"He dumped you?"

"I dumped him."

"You—why?" Sara asked, bewildered.

"He was about to brake up with me." I lied, not meeting her eyes. I couldn't tell her the truth. I couldn't tell anyone the truth.

"How can you tell?"

"Oh, well um, you know, the whole 'we need to talk' thing and he seemed really awkward and stuff so I dumped him before he had a chance to brake up with me."

"Sky, I'm sorry I brought it up."

"Nah, I was just about to tell you anyway."

"When did this happen?" Tommy asked.

"About a half hour ago. But it's okay. Now I can go after my true love. Henry." It was then that Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the tower. Harry seemed to have cheered up considerably, as he was smiling and laughing with Ron and Hermione, though he was determinedly refusing to look at me.

"Hey guys." I said, trying to lighten the sudden awkward mood.

"Hi." Hermione said brightly. "You must be Skylar's, 'special early Christmas present'?" Tommy was looking at her with great interest.

"That we are." He said flashing her his flirtatious, toothy smile and running a hand through his carefully messed up hair. "Hi. I'm Tomas. And you are?"

"Well uh, _Tomas,"_ I said, trying to hold back laughter. Tommy only seemed to be attracted people who were unavailable.

"That's Hermione Granger and her _boyfriend_ Ron Weasley."

"Oh." Tommy muttered.

"And that's Harry." I finished. Sara shot him a dirty look, though he didn't seem to notice.

"I'm going to go to bed." Harry said vaguely. And without another word he headed up to his dormitory.

"It's only seven o'clock, Harry." Ron called after him. Harry ignored him. I looked at the ground. Ron sighed.

"Don't worry, Skylar. He'll come around." Hermione said.

"Yeah, Sky. It'll only be like this for a little while. Don't you remember when you and me broke up?" Tommy said.

"Yeah." I muttered.

XXXX

Hermione, Sara and I stayed up all night talking, and woke up very late the next morning.

"What time is it?" Sara groaned, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Eleven thirty." Hermione said briskly. "I've been up for an hour."

"Why didn't you wake us?" I scolded.

"Sky, did you just say 'why didn't you wake us'?" Sara asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes…" Sara burst out laughing.

"What?" I said, a slight grin playing at my lips. Sara calmed down.

"You have been spending way too much time with British people." She said, a wide smile across her face.

"What does that mean?" I questioned.

"Nothing. Hermione, why didn't you wake us?" She mocked.

"Hang on." Hermione said. "Why—"

"Just answer her Hermione. She's not going to tell us. Ignore her and pretend she didn't say anything at all. So why didn't you wake us?" Sara let another laugh-snort, but Hermione did as I said and ignored her.

"Because I saw no need. And this gave me a good chance to get some school work done."

"Hermione, I thought you _did _all your homework already." I said.

"Oh I did. This is just some extra reading. And it'll get me extra credit too."

"Of course, of course. I should have known." I said, nodding.

"You're an odd person, Hermione." Sara said bluntly.

"_I'm_ odd?" Hermione said incredulously.

"Yes. Wildly odd." Hermione gave up.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" She questioned, her eyebrows raised.

"I haven't decided yet."

"Don't worry, Hermione. It's usually a good thing." I said reassuringly. "Unless your Daisy Lovens." Sara and I started to laugh.

"I don't even want to know."

XXXX

I walked down into the common room and saw Harry sitting by the fire.

"Hey Harry." I said cheerily, trying to hide my true feelings of awkwardness and guilt.

"Hey, Skylar." He said, grinning a little too brightly to be entirely natural. "What's up?"

"Oh you know. Not much."

"Yeah."

"So...you went to bed really early last night." I stated, after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah I was…I wasn't feeling very good. Still not as a matter of fact." _Subtext noted._ I thought to myselfI knew it because of me that he didn't "feel very good". I groaned, my insides burning with guilt.

"Huh?" Harry said, replying to my groan.

"Nothing Harry. I just…" I didn't finish the sentence.

We sat there for ten more minutes, out hearts beating, the silence pressing loudly against our ears.

"Well I'm going to go get lunch now." I said braking the awkward silence.

"Okay. See you later then."

"Yeah. Bye."


	24. Chapter TwentyThree

A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! I know, this has taken forever! I'm mad at me too. But chapter 23 is here now, so I hope you enjoy! Anddon't forget to review!

Chapter Twenty Two

I plopped down at the Gryffindor table between Ron and Tommy.

"Hey, sport." Pete said. He was seated directly across form me.

"Hey." I said brightly. "What's up with all y'all?"

"You all." Hermione said, who was sitting on Ron's other side.

"What?" I questioned.

"You said 'all y'all'. That's incorrect. It would be 'you all'. 'What's up with you all?'"

"Oh, well thanks for the English lesson, but look at who you're telling. I mean I'm almost as bad as Ron."

"Hey!" Ron said, his mouth full of food.

"No offence." I added.

"True." Hermione nodded.

"So Hermione." Sara said suddenly.

"Yes?" Hermione replied pleasantly.

"So like, if you're so smart then how come your head is so small? You'd think you would look like Jimmy Neutron or something. Or does your hair cover your brain, which is bursting out of your head? That would explain why it's so puffy. Or is your brain just all mushed in there really tight. And if that is the case, does it hurt?" Sara said seriously. Hermione blinked. Tommy, Pete, Ron and I burst out laughing, attracting stares from the few people who had stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas. Sara however, just looked expectantly at Hermione, waiting for an answer.

"I…You…" She trailed off. "You're impossible, you know that." This inspired a whole new wave of laughter. Sara joining in this time.

"What's going on?" I heard Harry's amused voice from behind me.

"Hermione…brain…head!" I was all could choke out before I was overcome by more laughter. Hermione looked rather irritated.

"Sorry Hermione." Sara said, calming down. "I like to tease people."

"It really wasn't that funny." Ron said, grinning, and placing his arm around Hermione's waist. "Just sort of one of those things."

"That's what you get for being so late to lunch." I said in mock irritation. Harry grinned slightly.

"Right. I'll try to be more like you." He said sarcastically.

XXXX

Later that day, Ron and Hermione disappeared onto the grounds for a "walk", giving Harry, Sara, Tommy, Pete and me run of Gryffindor Tower. Tommy and Pete were in the middle of a highly competitive game of wizard chess, leaving Sara, Harry and myself sitting awkwardly on the couch. Harry had finally noticed the glares and icy attitude Sara had toward him, making him feel uncomfortable and me twice as guilty. It was way too quiet for me to handle.

"You know what I've always wondered?" I said abruptly. "Why don't people ever go to the bathroom in books and movies and stuff? I mean, that's not very realistic at all. I pee! I do it every day. But no one in movies ever does. Honestly. Have you ever seen it? It's ridiculous! If I were to ever write a movie script or something, I would have them go to the bathroom. I mean no, it wouldn't be graphic or anything. Just saying that they need to use the restroom or something. You know?"

"Yeah, you're right, Sky. Totally. They add the other stuff. Showers and stuff I mean. But hey, maybe these people don't have bladders." Sara wondered.

"Possible but I doubt it. I wonder what it would be like to have no bladder. Where would all your liquids go? Or would it just—"

"This conversation has taken a very weird turn." Harry interrupted.

"Sorry, Harry." I grinned. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to go to the bathroom." Sara snorted.

XXXX

When Ron and Hermione returned from their walk, they both looked flushed and sheepish. Something I guessed didn't have anything to do with the cold outside.

"Hey. Have fun on your walk?" I asked innocently.

"Er, yeah." Ron said, more red creeping up to his ears. They collapsed onto the couch, Hermione's head leaning on Ron's shoulder, as he played with her curly hair. I grinned at the pair.

"You guys are cute!" I squeaked.

"Oh! That reminds me, Skylar. We need to talk. I'll be right back, Ron." Tommy and Pete looked up from their second game of chess and watched as Hermione grabbed my wrist and dragged me upstairs, Sara following close behind.

"Girls." I heard Pete mutter.

Hermione opened the door to our dormitory and said simply,

"Spill." I didn't say anything.

"What is she supposed to be telling you?" Sara asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Why she broke up with Harry."

"Oh. She didn't tell you? She did it because—"

"Sara!"

"What? It's so secret." I felt my face turn red. "He was about to brake up with her. You know, with the 'we need to talk' and stuff. So she dumped before he could her."

"He wasn't." Hermione said, looking at me. "Ron's told me. Harry talks about you all the time. How crazy you are, how funny you are, how pretty and smart you are. How happy you make him."

"He said all that about me?" I said, butterfly's suddenly filling my stomach. "That's so sweet."

"Oh, so it was all just one big mistake? But you still do have feelings for him." Hermione said knowingly. I couldn't deny it. I did.

"Well yeah."

"Well it's only been a couple of days. I'm one hundred percent positive he still has feelings for you."

"Yeah, Sky. Go get yo man back." Sara said, smiling.

"Oh, no I couldn't do that." I said shaking my head vigorously.

"Why not?" Hermione asked.

"Because…" I trailed off.

"Oh, please, Skylar, be more vague. I don't think I can handle all these details!" Sara said sarcastically.

"Harry didn't seem like he was going to brake up with you, did he?" Hermione said, annoying accurate as usual.

"What?" Sara said, skeptically. "Not possible. You should read all her letters: Harry this, Harry that. 'I like Harry so much!'"

"I don't get it either. But Skylar's mind does work differently than the rest of ours." Hermione said reasonably.

"True, but she's not stupid. She wouldn't ruin something that good." Sara replied.

"Look, you weren't here when the whole Harry thing started. When she was about to kiss him, she had a fit. Came running up to the dormitory babbling about something…crazy, I think was the word she used." Color crept up my neck as the memory came flooding into my head.

"She had never _really_ kissed anyone before. I mean sure, little things but nothing _real._ Of course she freaked out a bit." Sara reasoned.

"Why don't we just ask Skylar what's going on." Hermione said, turning to me.

"Well…" There was a silence.

"Come on, out with it!" Hermione prompted.

"Well…" Silence.

"Skylar, just tell her, so we can on with our lives." Sara, said, annoyed.

"Well…" Silence.

"Wait…" Sara looked at me suspiciously. "It's not _true _is it? He _was _about to brake up with you, wasn't he?"

"Well…"

"Well what?" Hermione burst.

"Tell me what is going on right now, Skylar Anne Matthews!" Sara said, sounding uncannily like my mother.

"Well…Okay. Here goes."


	25. Chapter TwentyFour

Chapter Twenty-Four

Hermione and Sara gaped at me.

"_That's_ why you dumped him?" Sara said, shocked. I nodded lamely. "Skylar, you're an idiot. I'm sorry. I simply don't understand this. _Why_ would you do that? You're so stupid!"

"Thanks for your support." I said irritably.

"I told you not to do anything stupid." Hermione said shaking her head at me. "Why didn't you listen?"

"I did! I did what I thought was the smart thing to do. I was worried about…him."

"How so? I don't get." Sara said again, seemingly not noticing the pause in my sentence. "You brake up with someone because you don't like them anymore. That's the only good reason. _Your _so called_ reason_ is just stupid."

"You really should have talked to someone first you know. It wasn't like it was too serious or anything."

"I know. It was just…I was just…I felt like…too much is too much. I couldn't…what I mean to say is, well…I just like him _so much._"

"But it's not like those feelings are going to go away just because you're not with him anymore. It'll be exactly the same, only you won't have a boyfriend or anyone to make out with." Sara said, exasperated.

XXXX

"Budge up Harry." Hermione said, making to sit down in between him and Ron in the common room later that night. She curled up close to Ron and laid her head on his chest.

"Where have you three been the last hour?" Ron asked, wrapping his arms around Hermione.

"We have been discussing a very important matter." Sara said.

"What?"

"An important matter." I said.

"Oh well thanks for clearing that up for us." Harry said. My face reddened slightly at the thought that he had been the "very important matter" we had been discussing.

"What about you guys? What have you been doing?"

"We played chess and exploding snap mostly." Ron said.

"You didn't get any homework done?" Hermione said, sounding scandalized.

"Did you?" Ron retorted.

"_I've _got all mine done already, in case you're forgetting." Hermione said coolly. Ron kissed the top of her head.

"Right." He said. "Speaking of that—"

"I'll _check _it when _you've finished it._" Hermione said sternly.

"Hermone…" Ron started to whine. Then, "Thanks. I really appreciate it, you know." Hermione smiled and snuggled closer to him. I looked at the two wishing desperately that I could just go and give Harry long hard "snog".

XXXX

Christmas Eve had arrived, with all it's glory. The Great Hall looked simply beautiful. Decorated with twelve Christmas trees, holly and mistletoe, ever lasting icicles…

"Gorgeous." I praised for the thousandth time.

"Yes, Skylar, we know. We've known for a week now." Sara said.

"But it's so pretty. I mean _twelve _Christmas trees?"

"—And all the holly and mistletoe—" Sara teased.

"—And who ever heard of everlasting icicles—?" Pete continued.

"Oh, shut up." I snapped playfully, before they could continue. "Fine, I won't admire and appreciate all the work the house elves put into the decorations." I glanced at Hermione to see the effect of these words. She pursed her lips, but didn't say anything.

"I'm only teasing Hermione." I said cheerfully.

"Hey Sky," Tommy said. "Have you interacted much with that Porter guy? I remember you mentioning him the first night here."

"On several occasions." I said. "I think I told you about the time he kissed me, and the time he tried to force me to go on a date with him—"

"And that Neal—"

"Neville."

"Neville guy punched him."

"Right. Good times." I smiled at the memory. Neville. What a goon. "Speaking of Henry. Harry, when am I going to get—" I broke off suddenly, realizing what I was about to say. Could I be more idiotic? I can't believe I almost mentioned the "romantic dinner" Harry had claimed would be the only one who would take me to.

"Are you ever going to get what?" Harry asked.

"Nothing, never mind." I said quickly.

"Come on, you have to tell us now." Sara said.

"No I don't. It's nothing."

"Sure."

"Come on, drop it. I doesn't matter."

"Okay, okay. Consider it dropped." Pete said, glaring at Sara.

"Yes, dropped." She said, letting out a short laugh. "Now what are we doing today?"

XXXX

"How did you find out about that passage way?" Tommy asked, as he slid through the statue of the One Eyes Witch's hump.

"My older twin brothers." Ron answered as we started to walk down the narrow passage.

"Yeah, those guys sound wicked. They're a legend here. Remind me to tell you sometime about their great escape. Let me tell you, it's not something anyone would soon forget. Bloody brilliant is what it is." Sara snorted.

"What?" I asked.

"'Wicked'? 'Bloody brilliant'? Sky, you are picking up British slang." She noted.

"Whoa, I am aren't I?" I said, smiling amusedly. "I haven't even noticed."

"Well I think it's 'wicked'." Sara teased.

"Come on, Hemione, are you ever going to cheer up?" Tommy asked, flashing her a flirtatious smile. Ron immediately took her hand, though Hermione didn't seem to notice. We had practically forced her to come with us. She didn't approve of such unnecessary rule braking. "I'm a prefect! I can't! There are plenty of things to do here. If we get caught…" But in the end she had reluctantly agreed to come to Hogsmede with us.

"Yes, come on Hermione. Gimme a smile." Sara said, walking backwards to face her, smiling broadly. "Come on." She winked.

"Oh, alright. I'm cheerful. Will you please stop grinning like that?" Hermione said.

"Absolutely." Sara said triumphantly, turning to face forward again. Hermione did seem a lot friendlier after that.

I never really figured out how all seven of us out of the Honeydukes cellar without getting caught. It was a close shave, but we managed. And while we were there, we stocked up on sweets. Sara and I went straight to the chocolate, which we could never get enough of. But we got our share sugar quills, levitating sherbet balls, Ice Mice, and Pepper Imps as well. Along with a number of other sweets they didn't have many of in the States.

"I don't know how I could have gone sixteen years without these." I said, sucking on a fat, pink chunk of coconut ice.

"Neither do I." Said Ron.

"Ron, you've grown up with this stuff." I replied.

"I know. I was saying how I didn't know you could have gone sixteen years without this stuff."

"Of course." I said, rolling my eyes. We were on the verge of turning in to Zonko's Joke Shop when I suddenly gasped loudly and grabbed Tommy's arm.

"What's wrong?" He asked unconcernedly, continuing to walk.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione!" I said, my eyes wide, in hushed excitement.

"What?" Harry said, mimicking my tone mockingly. I chose to ignore this fact.

"I never got to go to the Shrieking Shack!" I squealed. Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged glances, their expressions unreadable.

"What?" I said curiously.

"We just have some…memories there." Ron said.

"Good or bad?" Pete asked.

"Both." Harry replied, an odd smile playing at his lips. "Let's go."

"So is anyone going to tell me what the Shrinking Shack is?" Sara asked.

"The _Shrieking_ Shack, Sar. And it's the most haunted house in Britain." I said matter-of-factly. Harry, Ron and Hermione laughed quietly.

"Are you guys going to tell us what went down at the Shack or not?"

"We're not." Hermione said.

"Then stop sniggering." I said sweetly. We reached the Shack at that moment.

"It's even creepy from here." Sara shivered.

"I thought you said this place was haunted?" Tommy said. "I see no sign of ghosts."

"It's been silent for years." I said. "But I heard stories. You used to be able to hear screams and crashes from the house on the full moon."

"Sounds kinda creepy I guess." Pete said gruffly.

"Oh don't act all tough, Pete. In case you're forgetting the Halloween party two years ago, it was _you _who—"

"Don't you dare." Pete threatened.

"Oh yeah, I remember that!" Sara giggled. She, Tommy and I burst out laughing.

"Are you going to tell us?" Ron asked.

"Hey, you have your secrets, we have ours." I said.

"Fair enough." Hermione said. We stayed up there for several more minutes, just talking. We spent the rest of the day walking around. We got a butter beer at some point in the day. We loaded up on Zonko's products and had a lovely time exploring Dervish and Bangs. We went on a hike, too. Up to some shallow cave in the mountain. It was odd. We just sat there, silent. Harry had picked up a large gray feather and put in his bag. But other than that it was perfectly normal.

XXXX

We returned to the common room after a spectacular escape from Filch, who, we were sure, was going to catch us.

"I hate Mrs. Norris." Tommy commented.

"We know that feeling." Ron said bitterly.


	26. Authors Note

I know you all hate me right about now, and with good reason. I'm not so happy with myself, to be honest…and you will especially hate me after what I am about to say, so here it is: I started writing fanfiction at the ages of…eleven and twelve. That was when I started two of my continuing stories, **_Welcome to Hogwarts_**, and **_Alli Maddison's Dream_**.

**_Maybe Someday_** I started a couple of years later, however it is time that I admit defeat. For the past year I have been pretending that I am going to continue on with these stories, even though I knew deep down, I was never really going to. So, it is with a heavy and ashamed heart, and with my profuse apologies, that I must discontinue my stories. I will, if you should wish it, post one more chapter of **_Welcome to Hogwarts_**, so that I am able, as sloppily as it might have to be done, to tie up all the loose ends and leave it with some closure. However, as for the rest of my stories, it is my intention to delete **_Alli Maddison's Dream_** entirely and to delete all chapters of **_Maybe Someday_**, with the exception of the first, leaving it as the one-shot I had originally intended it to be. My one-shots (**_This Little Thing Called Love, Dance With Me_**) will remain on the site, and you can expect more _one-shots_ (I emphasize the word _one-shot_) from me periodically, though not too often, especially when school starts again.

I really am very sorry. It makes me sad to stop writing these stories, I had a ton of fun with them, but I know I'm not going to finish them.

Please post a comment, and tell me whether or not you would like me to post a last chapter of **_Welcome to Hogwarts. _**

I would just like to sincerely say _thank you _to anyone who ever reviewed my stories, you are all my hero's!

Yours,

Sami i.e. sexyface (previously known as both harry-potter-luvs-me (gag me with a spoon) and blondie)


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